Heartland Express misses on earnings, revenue

Heartland Express on Thursday reported lower third-quarter earnings and revenue that missed analysts' expectations.

The North Liberty-based truckload carrier ended the third quarter of 2016 with net income of $12.5 million, or 15 cents per share, compared with $15.1 million, or 17 cents per share, in the third quarter of 2015. Analysts for Thomson Reuters were expecting net income of 16 cents per share.

Operating revenue slipped to $149.3 million from $182.5 million in the third quarter of 2015. Analysts forecast revenue of $163.9 million.

Michael Gerdin, Heartland Express president and CEO, said in a news release that the quarterly earning and revenue were achieved in a difficult industry environment.

'We have continued to experience downward pressure on freight rates due to the softness in freight volumes resulting from the available capacity in the industry,” Gerdin said. 'We continued to show year-over-year improvement in our operating ratio, excluding gains on disposal of property and equipment.”

The company recorded an adjusted operating ratio of 85.1 percent in the third quarter, compared with 84.5 percent in the third quarter of 2015.

Heartland Express operating revenues for the third quarter included fuel surcharge revenues of $15.2 million, compared with $21.8 million in the same period of 2015, a $6.6 million decrease.

Operating revenues decreased 16.6 percent excluding the impact of fuel surcharge revenue primarily due to lower miles driven as a result of softer freight volumes in the third quarter, compared with the same period in 2015.

The average age of the Heartland Express trailer fleet was 4.7 years on Sept. 30, compared with 4.4 years on Sept. 30, 2015. The company anticipates a total of approximately $30 million to $35 million in net capital expenditures for the calendar year.