J.B. Hunt's 3Q Income Improves

J.B. Hunt Transport Services said late Thursday its third-quarter net income rose from a year ago as operating income at two of its four business segments rose more than 20%.

Net income increased to $78.2 million, or 65 cents per share, from $68.7 million, or 57 cents, a year earlier.

Revenue rose to $1.3 billion, from $1.17 billion a year ago, the company said in a statement.

Truck segment operating income declined 41% to $4 million, while revenue slipped 8% to $117 million on an approximate 9% reduction in fleet size, the company said. At the end of the quarter, J.B. Hunt operated 2,381 tractors from 2,605 a year ago. 

Intermodal operating income climbed 25% to $97.9 million on load volume. Revenue gained 15% to $794 million.

Its dedicated contract services unit’s operating income fell 14% to $25.6 million, while revenue rose 1% to $273 million.

Operating income for integrated capacity solutions rose 43% to $5.5 million and revenue rose 30% to $121 million.

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Heartland's Income Drops

Heartland Express said its third-quarter profit fell 19.3% from a year ago.

Net income fell to $12.4 million, or 15 cents per share, from $15.4 million, or 17 cents, a year ago.

Revenue rose 1.9% to $135 million, the truckload carrier said Thursday.

Heartland said it was continuing to upgrade its trailer fleet and that it took delivery of 496 new Wabash trailers in the third quarter.

By the end of the 2012, its entire trailer fleet will be 2007 models or newer, Heartland said.

Heartland Express is ranked No. 47 on the Transport Topics 100 listing of U.S. and Canadian for-hire trucking companies.

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Arkansas Best's 2Q Income More Than Doubles

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Arkansas Best Corp.’s second-quarter profit more than doubled, the company said Tuesday.

Net income jumped to $11.8 million, or 44 cents a share, from $5.3 million, or 20 cents, a year ago. Revenue rose 2.4% to $511 million.

The results included an $8 million, or 31 cents per share, tax benefit, and transaction costs of $2.1 million, or 5 cents a share, from its June acquisition of Panther Expedited Services.

ABF Freight System is Arkansas Best’s less-than-truckload operation and largest business unit, which raised its rates 6.9%, as did other LTL carriers, in June.

Freight transportation operating income rose to $7.6 million, from $7.6 million, while revenue slipped to $445.7 million, from $452.1 million.

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Cummins' 2Q Income Dips; Heavy-Duty Engine Sales Improve

Cummins Inc. said Tuesday its second-quarter profit slipped from a year ago but its heavy-duty truck engine sales improved.

Net income dipped to $469 million, or $2.47 per share, from $505 million, or $2.60, a year ago. Revenue fell 4% to $4.45 billion.

Overall engine sales fell 2% to $2.8 billion, with segment earnings before interest and taxes flat at $376 million. Component segment sales were flat $1 billion.

Heavy-duty truck engine sales rose to $802 million, from $693 million a year ago.

Improved demand in North American heavy- and medium- and light-duty truck and construction markets was offset by lower sales to Chinese construction, Brazilian truck and North American oil and gas markets.

Cummins said it expects its full-year revenue to be $18 billion.

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Goodyear's 3Q Income, Sales Reach Record

Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. said its third-quarter net income and sales rose to records.

The No. 1 North American tire maker earned $161 million, or 60 cents per share, turning around a loss of $20 million, or 8 cents, in the same quarter a year ago.

Sales rose 22% to $6.1 billion, its highest ever for any quarter.  Tire unit volumes totaled 47.7 million, unchanged from a year ago.

North American sales increased 18% to $2.6 billion, also a record.

Goodyear said it expects the global tire industry to continue growing in 2011, although at the low end of ranges previously forecasted in all segments except commercial original equipment.

For the full year of 2011 in North America, Goodyear said it expects the commercial original equipment sector to improve by 50% and commercial replacement to gain 13%.

It expects the consumer replacement market to be flat and consumer original equipment to rise 6%.

Goodyear said raw material costs in the fourth quarter of 2011 will jump by more than 30% from a year ago, bringing the total increase for the full year to 30% over 2010.

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Dana's 3Q Income More Than Doubles

Component maker Dana Holding Corp. said its third-quarter income more than doubled on higher sales, and the company boosted its full-year earnings outlook.

The truck axle and frame maker earned $110 million, or 51 cents per share, up from $46 million, or 22 cents, a year ago.

Sales rose almost 30% to $2 billion, Maumee, Ohio-based Dana said in a statement.

The earnings included a $60 million gain from selling interests in two joint ventures to German auto parts maker Getrag,

Adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization were $200 million, up from EBITDA of $148 million a year ago.

Dana boosted the its full-year earnings guidance, estimating adjusted EBITDA will be $780 million, in the upward range of its previous guidance $765 million to $785 million guidance, and said adjusted earnings per share will be $1.65 to $1.70, up from a previous $1.60 to $1.70.

Dana said it completed its 50-50 joint-venture with Bosch Rexroth AG to develop and manufacture advanced hydromechanical variable transmissions for off-highway vehicles; launched its slightweight Spicer 90S drive axle, developed for commercial vehicles in the Indian market; and said broad-based interest continued in its battery-cooling technologies.

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Cooper Tire's 3Q Income Declines

Cooper Tire & Rubber Co. said its third-quarter earnings fell to $17 million, or 27 cents a share, from $45 million, or 71 cents, a year ago.

Sales rose 19% to $1.05 billion, a record for any quarter, the company said Monday.

North America Tire Operations’ net sales climbed 18% to $765 million, while international net sales jumped 30% to $422 million.

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Heartland's 3Q Income Slips

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Heartland Express said its third-quarter profit slipped to $15.4 million, or 17 cents per share, from $18.3 million, or 20 cents, a year ago.

Revenue rose 4.2% to $132.5 million, including a 46.2% jump in fuel surcharges, the truckload carrier said late Tuesday.

The company said it took delivery of 196 International ProStar Plus trucks in the quarter and said it expects to buy 329 new trucks by the end of the year.

It said it took delivery of 715 new Great Dane and Wabash trailers in the quarter, that it s sold 866 trailers in the quarter and has sold a total of 2,453 trailers in the first nine months of this year.

Heartland’s founder, Russell Gerdin, passed away earlier this month at the age of 70. His CEO duties were transferred to his son Michael in September.

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Saia Reports Higher 3Q Net Income

Saia Inc. said Wednesday its third-quarter net income nearly doubled from a year ago on higher revenue and improved pricing.

Net income was $4.8 million, or 30 cents a share, compared with $2.5 million, or 16 cents, a year ago. Revenue rose 14% to $268 million.

Operating income jumped 47% to $9.6 million, the less-than-truckload carrier said.

LTL tonnage was up 2.6% from a year ago, while shipments per workday were flat with a 2.6% increase in weight per shipment.

Saia is ranked No. 23 on the Transport Topics 100 listing of U.S. and Canadian for-hire carriers.

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Hub Group's Third-Quarter Income Rises

Logistics firm Hub Group’s third-quarter income improved on higher intermodal activity.

Net income rose to $16.3 million, or 44 cents per share, from $12.6 million, or 34 cents a share, a year ago.

Revenue rose to $760 million, from $478 million.

Intermodal revenue increased 19% to $402 million, led by a 10% volume increase and a 9% increase for fuel, price and mix.

Truck brokerage revenue decreased 3% to $83 million, while Unyson Logistics revenue increased 39% to $76 million.

Hub Group is ranked No. 42 on the Transport Topics Logistics 50 list U.S. and Canadian logistics companies.

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Knight's Third-Quarter Income Flat

Knight Transportation’s third-quarter profit was about even with a year ago, at $16.6 million, or 21 cents a share, compared with $16.7 million, or 20 cents, for the same quarter of 2010.

Revenue rose 18.7% to $191.3 million, with revenue excluding fuel surcharges gaining 13.2% to $183.4 million.

As it has in previous earnings statements, the truckload carrier cited continued high fuel costs and said that driver availability remains tight throughout the industry. 

Phoenix-based Knight Transportation is ranked No. 31 on the Transport Topics 100 listing of U.S. and Canadian for-hire carriers.

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Echo Global Logistics' 3Q Income Increases

Echo Global Logistics said its third-quarter profit grew 30.2% to $3.4 million, or 15 cents per share, from $2.6 million, or 12 cents, a year ago.

Revenue rose 40% to a record $159 million, the Chicago-based third-party logistics company said late Thursday.

Echo also reported record shipment volume of 356,000, a 30% increase from a year ago.

In a statement, CEO Doug Waggoner said the company expects to see approximately 40% year-over-year growth heading into the fourth quarter.

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C.H. Robinson's Third-Quarter Income Rises

Transportation and third-party logistics firm C.H. Robinson Worldwide said its third-quarter profit rose to $114 million, or 70 cents a share, from $103 million, or 62 cents, a year earlier.

Revenue grew 10.6% to $423 million, the company said late Tuesday. Transportation revenue rose 11.3% to $374 million.

Truck revenue, including truckload and less-than-truckload services, rose 13.1% to $321 million.

Truckload volumes increased 4%, while truckload margins decreased slightly from the previous year’s quarter. LTL revenues grew 28%, driven by a 15% increase in shipments.

Intermodal net revenue grew 14.7% to 10.5 million due to increased volumes and price increases.

C.H. Robinson is ranked No. 8 on the Transport Topics Logistics 50 listing of North American logistics firms.

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Landstar's Third-Quarter Income Rises

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Landstar System said Monday its third-quarter net income rose to $30.2 million, or 64 cents a share, from $21.8 million, or 44 cents, a year ago.

Revenue rose 10% to $684 million. The earnings per share marked a third-quarter record, the company said.

Truck transportation revenue hauled by independent business capacity owners and brokerage carriers rose to $625.8 million, or 91% of revenue, up from $573.5 million, or 92%, a year ago.

Fourth-quarter earnings per share will be in a range of 62 to 67 cents per share, said Landstar’s Chairman and CEO Henry Gerkens.

Recent trends in September and into October “indicate continued strength in revenue per load and load volume,” he said in a statement.

Landstar System is ranked No. 8 on the Transport Topics 100 listing of U.S. and Canadian for-hire carriers.

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Rush Enterprises' Income, Sales Jump on Higher Truck Sales

Truck dealership Rush Enterprises said its third-quarter net income improved on higher Class 8 and medium-duty truck sales.

Net income rose to $16 million, or 41 cents a share, from $14.2 million, or 37 cents, a year ago, Rush said late Monday. Revenue jumped 71.6% to $696.4 million.

Truck revenue rose to $487.3 million, from $248.3 million a year ago, while parts, service and body shop sales rose to $182.6 million, from $132.1 million.

Rush delivered 2,474 new heavy-duty trucks in the quarter, up from 1,283 a year ago; 1,427 new medium-duty trucks, up from 650; and 1,170 used trucks, up from 899 a year ago. It also sold 301 light-duty commercial vehicles, up from 28 last year.

Rush said it “continues to pursue its acquisition strategy,” and that its agreement to buy West Texas Peterbilt and Peck Road Ford in Whittier, Calif., are scheduled to close this quarter.

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Union Pacific's 3Q Income Rises 16%

Union Pacific Corp.’s third-quarter profit increased 16% from a year ago as higher prices offset slower growth in shipments and fuel costs.

Net income rose to $904 million or $1.85 per share, up from $778 million, or $1.56, a year ago, the freight railroad said Thursday.

Revenue rose 16% to $5.1 billion, a third quarter record, which included $4.8 billion in freight revenue.

Total freight carloads rose 1%. Intermodal volume slipped, but revenue rose 8% to $948 million.

Union Pacific, which operates west of the Mississippi River, is the largest U.S. freight railroad by revenue.

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