C.H. Robinson Q4 Earnings Surpass Estimates, Increase Year Over Year

C.H. Robinson Worldwide, Inc. (CHRW) reported mixed fourth-quarter 2025 results, wherein earnings surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate while revenues missed the same.

Quarterly earnings per share (EPS) of $1.23 outpaced the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $1.12 and improved 1.65% year over year. Total revenues of $3.91 billion missed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $3.95 billion and fell 6.5% year over year, owing to the divestiture of CHRW’s Europe Surface Transportation business, lower pricing and volume in its ocean services, and lower pricing in truckload services. These were, however, partially offset by higher volume in the truckload services.

Amid multiple market headwinds, C.H. Robinson continued to deliver a solid fourth-quarter 2025 performance on the back of market share gains, disciplined revenue management, a cost-of-hire advantage, and evergreen productivity improvements fueled by its Lean AI strategy.

Adjusted gross profits decreased 4% year over year to $657.0 million, owing to lower adjusted gross profit per transaction in the company’s ocean services and the divestiture of its Europe Surface Transportation business. Adjusted operating margin of 27.6% increased 80 basis points.

Operating expenses decreased 5% year over year to $475.7 million. Personnel expenses fell 4.9% year over year to $337.0 million, owing to cost optimization efforts and productivity improvements and the divestiture of the Europe Surface Transportation business. This was partially offset by higher restructuring charges related to workforce reductions.

CHRW’s Q4 Segmental Results

North American Surface Transportation’s total revenues were $2.81 billion (up 0.3% year over year) in the fourth quarter, owing tohigher volumes in the truckload services, partially offset by a shorter average length of haul in truckload services. Adjusted gross profits of the segment increased 1.9% year over year to $411.61 million.

Total revenues from Global Forwarding fell 17.3% year over year to $730.98 million, owing to lower pricing and volume in the company’s ocean services. Adjusted gross profits fell 12.7% year over year to $177.95 million.

Revenues from other sources (Robinson Fresh, Managed Services and Other Surface Transportation) decreased 25.4% year over year to $371.27 million.

Below, we present the division of adjusted profits among the service lines (on an enterprise basis).

Transportation: The unit (comprising Truckload, LTL, Ocean, Air, Customs and Other logistics services) delivered an adjusted gross profit of $623.22million in the quarter under review, down 4.5% from the prior-year figure.

Adjusted gross profits of LTL, Customs and Other logistics services grew 6.3%, 30% and 4.1%, year over year, respectively. Truckload, Ocean and Air’s adjusted gross profits declined 5.1%, 22% and 17%, year over year, respectively.

Balance-Sheet Data

CHRW exited the fourth quarter with cash and cash equivalents of $160.87 million compared with $136.83 million at the end of the prior quarter. Long-term debt was $1.09 billion compared with $1.18 billion at the end of the prior quarter.

CHRW generated $305.4 million of cash from operations in the fourth quarter of 2025, up from $267.9 million generated in the year-ago quarter. The $37.5 million increase in cash flow from operations was owing to a $28.2 million increase in cash generated by changes in net operating working capital.

In the fourth quarter of 2025, CHRW rewarded its shareholders with $207.7 million, which includes $133.3 million in the form of share repurchases and $74.3 million through cash dividends.

Capital expenditures were $15.7 million in the reported quarter.

For 2026, capital expenditures for 2026 are anticipated to be between $75 million and $85 million.

Currently, CHRW carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here

Q4 Performances of Other Transportation Companies

Delta Air Lines DAL reported fourth-quarter 2025 earnings (excluding 31 cents from non-recurring items) of $1.55 per share, which beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $1.53. Earnings decreased 16.22% on a year-over-year basis due to high labor costs.

Revenues in the December-end quarter were $16 billion, beating the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $15.63 billion and increasing 2.9% on a year-over-year basis. Adjusted operating revenues (excluding third-party refinery sales) increased 1.2% year over year to $14.6 billion. Revenue growth was impacted by about 2 points due to the government shutdown, mainly in the domestic segment, consistent with the company's disclosure last month.

J.B. Hunt Transport Services, Inc. (JBHT) reported fourth-quarter 2025 earnings of $1.90 per share, which surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $1.81 and improved 24.2% year over year.

Total operating revenues of $3.09 billion lagged the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $3.12 billion and were down 1.6% year over year. JBHT’s fourth-quarter revenue performance was hurt by a 2% and 4% decline in revenue per load excluding fuel surcharge revenue in Intermodal (JBI) and Truckload (JBT), respectively, a 1% decrease in average trucks in Dedicated Contract Services (DCS), and a 7% and 2% decline in load volume in Integrated Capacity Solutions (ICS) and JBI, respectively. The decrease in revenue, excluding fuel surcharge revenue, was partially offset by a 15% increase in volume in JBT, a 1% uptick in productivity, excluding fuel surcharge revenue, in DCS, and an increase in revenue per load in ICS. Total operating revenue, excluding fuel surcharge revenue, decreased 2% year over year.

United Airlines Holdings, Inc. (UAL) reported solid fourth-quarter 2025 results wherein the company’s earnings and revenues beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate.

UAL's fourth-quarter 2025 adjusted earnings per share (excluding 9 cents from non-recurring items) of $3.10 surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $2.98 but declined 4.9% on a year-over-year basis. The reported figure lies within the guided range of $3.00-$3.50.

Operating revenues of $15.4 billion outpaced the Zacks Consensus Estimate marginally by 0.1% and increased 4.8% year over year. Passenger revenues (which accounted for 90.4% of the top line) increased 4.9% year over year to $13.9 billion. UAL flights transported 45,679 passengers in the fourth quarter, up 3% year over year.

Cargo revenues fell 6% year over year to $490 million. Revenues from other sources rose 9.1% year over year to $981 million.

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