Truck broker Landstar System lowered its second-quarter guidance in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission Tuesday after the market closed.
The Jacksonville, Florida-based company said both revenue and earnings will come in below the ranges it provided when it reported first-quarter results at the end of April. At the time, the company’s management team said that while the softer market trends experienced in the first quarter had worsened a little in April, it expected a normal seasonal uptick in May.
That didn’t materialize.
The new outlook calls for revenue of $1.325 billion to $1.375 billion, a 5.3% reduction from previous guidance assuming the midpoint of both ranges.
The change is based on loads hauled by truck being down 16%-18% year over year (y/y) in the first seven weeks of the second quarter and revenue per load being off 14%-16%. The prior guide called for declines of 14%-16% and 12%-14%, respectively.
The new range for earnings per share is $1.75 to $1.85, which was lowered by 8% at the midpoint (15 cents lower on each end). The consensus estimate at the time of the Tuesday announcement was $1.97.
Shares of Landstar (NASDAQ: LSTR) were down 2.9% in after-hours trading on Tuesday.
FreightWaves data shows truck capacity continues to remain loose and spot rates are still searching for a floor. While carriers are hopeful that big-box retailers have burned off excess inventories, no retailer has yet signaled a material need to refill its distribution centers. As such, the industry awaits a more meaningful reduction in carrier operating authorities or a pickup in demand in industrial or consumer-related end markets.
Landstar’s filing said the guidance change was ahead of management’s appearance at Wolfe Research’s annual transportation conference on Wednesday.
At an investor conference last week, management teams from J.B. Hunt Transport Services (NASDAQ: JBHT) and Schneider National (NYSE: SNDR) stated that little had changed from the commentary they provided on their quarterly calls in April.
Both companies had representatives on an intermodal panel at the Wolfe conference on Tuesday who said they were still waiting for demand to improve and that the outlook for the back half of the year remained uncertain.
More FreightWaves articles by Todd Maiden
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whyski
Them landstar warriors are out commenting on the article here lol.
Landstar – The double broker double cripple carrier brokerage Firm
David
Ron,
What you are saying is incorrect. I called about two months ago, spoke with Debbie and she indicated Landstar wasn’t interested in leasing myself or my truck.
At 65% load split, hidden fees and learning about your double brokering practices I think she did me a huge favor.
Ron
Landstar is a great place to bring your business. The prediction of this year is low at all levels of business. Not just trucking. All businesses period.
The aspect of landstar is to provide a driver the opportunity to do business as they wish to do without the obligations of being like a company driver. You actually run your own business here at landstar. Some that are not making it are simply not at that level to completely run their own business yet without the assistance aspect of someone booking loads for them.
If your truly ready to run your business including the trophy’s as well as the headaches that come along with actually running a business. Then landstar is for you.