Werner Stock Price Declines 7.8% Since Q4 Earnings Release

Werner Enterprises, Inc. (WERN) reported disappointing fourth-quarter 2025 results wherein both earnings and revenues missed the Zacks Consensus Estimate as well as declined year over year.

Quarterly earnings per share of 5 cents missed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 9 cents per share. In the year-ago quarter, the company reported earnings of 8 cents per share. Total revenues of $737.6 million missed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $770 million and fell 2.3% on a year-over-year basis, owing to a $14.7 million, or a 3% decrease in Truckload Transportation Services (TTS) revenues and a $5.6 million, or a 3% decline in Werner Logistics revenues.

The disappointing results might have displeased investors, with the stock plunging 7.8% since the earnings release on Feb. 5, 2026.

WERN reported adjusted operating income of $11.3 million, down 8% year over year. Adjusted operating margin of 1.5% declined 10 basis points from the year-ago quarter.

WERN’s Q4 Segmental Results

Revenues in the TTS segment fell 3% on a year-over-year basis to $512.64 million. Adjusted operating income of $12.7 million fell 13% year over year. The adjusted operating margin of 2.5% declined 30 basis points.

Logistics’ revenues totaled $207.54 million, down 3% year over year. Adjusted operating income fell 60% to $957 million in the fourth quarter of 2025. Adjusted operating margin decreased 60 basis points year over year to 0.5%.

Liquidity

As of Dec. 31, 2025, Werner had cash and cash equivalents of $59.92 million compared with $50.98 million at the prior-quarter end. Long-term debt (net of current portion) was $752 million compared with $725 million at the end of the prior quarter.

The company generated $62.3 million of cash from operations in fourth-quarter 2025. Net capital expenditure amounted to$69.4 million.

Werner did not repurchase any shares in the fourth quarter of 2025. As of Dec. 31, 2025, WERN had 5.0 million shares remaining under its share repurchase authorization.

WERN’s Outlook

WERN has unveiled its 2026 guidance, which includes the acquisition of FirstFleet (completed on Jan. 27, 2026). For 2026, Werner anticipates TTS truck growth to improve in the range of 23-28%. Net capital expenditure is estimated to be in the range of $185-$225 million.

Under the TTS guidance, WERN projects dedicated revenues per truck per week to decline from 1% to grow to 2% in 2026. The full-year 2026 tax rate is now anticipated to be in the range of 25.5%-26.5%.

Currently, Werner carries a Zacks Rank #4 (Sell).

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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This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).

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