Knight-Swift Q1 Earnings & Revenues Beat Estimates, Improve Y/Y

Knight-Swift Transportation Holdings Inc.’s (KNX)first-quarter 2025 adjusted earnings of 28 cents per share beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 25 cents and improved more than 100% year over year. The reported figure came below the lower end of the guidedrange of 29-33 cents.

Total revenues of $1.82 million beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $1.81 million and improved marginally by 0.1% year over year. Revenues, excluding truckload and LTL fuel surcharge, grew 1.2% year over year to $1.63 billion.

Total operating expenses (on a reported basis) decreased 2.5% year over year to $1.75 billion.

KNX’s Q1 Segmental Results

Revenues (excluding fuel surcharge and inter-segment transactions) from Truckload totaled $1.04 billion, down 4.2% year over year. This was due to a 5.4% decrease in loaded miles, primarily in our dedicated services. Our estimate is pegged at $1.07 billion.

Adjusted segmental operating income grew 59.7% year over year to $46.48 million. Adjusted operating ratio (operating expenses as a percentage of revenues) fell 170 basis points (bps) to 95.6%.  

The Less-Than-Truckload segment generated revenues (excluding fuel surcharges) worth $305.25 million in the first quarter, up 26.7% year over year as shipments per day increased 24.2% year over year, which includes the acquisition of DHE on July 30, 2024. Our estimate for the segment stands at $291.3 million.

Adjusted segmental operating income was down 26.8% year over year to $17.72 million. Adjusted operating ratio rose 420 bps to 94.2% year over year.

Revenues from Logistics (excluding inter-segment transactions) amounted to $141.62 million (up 11.8% year over year), higher than our estimate of $137.3 million. Adjusted operating income increased 73.4% year over year to $6.30 million. The adjusted operating ratio fell 160 bps to 95.5%.

Intermodal revenues (excluding inter-segment transactions) totaled $91.1 million, up 3.5% year over year. This was due to a 4.6% increase in load count, partially offset by a 1.1% decline in revenue per load year over year. Our estimate stands at $107.3 million. The operating ratio (on a reported basis) fell 360 bps year over year to 102%.

Revenues within KNX’s All Other Segments for the first quarter declined 15.9% year over year to $71.56 million, owing to the winding down of KNX’s third-party carrier insurance program at the first quarter of 2024-end.

Liquidity

Knight-Swift exited the first quarter with cash and cash equivalents of $209.48 million compared with $218.26 million at the prior-quarter end. Long-term debt (excluding current maturities) was $1.41 billion compared with $1.44 billion at the end of the prior quarter.

KNX’s Guidance

KNX has reduced its second-quarter 2025 adjusted earnings per share guidance to the range of 30-38 cents from the prior guided range of 46-50 cents per share. The Zacks Consensus Estimate of 37 cents lies within the updated guidance.

Truckload segment revenues are expected to be up in the low single-digit percent sequentially in the second quarter, with operating margins relatively stable sequentially. LTL segment revenues, excluding fuel surcharge, are expected to generate 25%-30% year-over-year growth in the second quarter, driven by shipment count growth from KNX’s expanding network, the inclusion of DHE, and yield improvement. Logistics segment revenues are expected to be down in the low single-digit percent sequentially in the second quarter.

Net interest expense is expected to be fairly stable sequentially into the second quarter of 2025. KNX expects net cash capital expenditures for 2025 in the $575 million-$625 million band. The tax rate (on an adjusted basis) is expected to be around 24.5-25.5% for 2025.

We note that another player from the Zacks Transportation-Truck industry, Landstar System LSTR , will report its first-quarter earnings numbers later this month. (See the Zacks Earnings Calendar to stay ahead of market-making news.)

Landstar System is scheduled to report first-quarter 2025 earnings on May 13. The company’s performance in the first quarter is expected to have suffered from weak freight demand, geopolitical uncertainty, tariff-related uncertainties and high inflationary pressure.

LSTR has outpaced the Zacks Consensus Estimate for earnings in two of the last four quarters (missing the mark on the other two occasions). The average miss is 0.6%.

KNX’s Zacks Rank

Currently, KNX carries a Zacks Rank #5 (Strong Sell).

You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

Q1 Performances of Other Transportation Companies

United Airlines

United Airlines’ UAL first-quarter 2025 earnings per share (excluding 25 cents from non-recurring items) of 91 cents surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 75 cents. In the year-ago quarter, the Chicago-based airline reported a loss of 15 cents per share. 

Operating revenues of $13.21 billion fell marginally short of the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $13.22 billion. The top line increased 5.4% year over year despite the tariff-induced slowdown in domestic air travel demand. Passenger revenues (which accounted for 89.7% of the top line) rose 4.8% to $11.9 billion. UAL flights transported 40,806 passengers in the first quarter, up 3.8% year over year.

Delta Air Lines

Delta Air LinesDAL reported first-quarter 2025 earnings (excluding 9 cents from non-recurring items) of 46 cents per share, which surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 40 cents. Earnings increased 2.2% on a year-over-year basis due to low fuel costs.

Revenues in the March-end quarter were $14.04 billion, surpassing the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $13.81 billion and increasing 2.1% on a year-over-year basis. Adjusted operating revenues (excluding third-party refinery sales) rose 3.3% year over year to $13 billion.

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

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