USA Truck Inc. marked a return to prof itability Thursday with positive second-quarter results after losing money for the five previous quarters.
The Van Buren-based carrier reported net income of $900,000, or 9 cents per share, for the quarter that ended June 30, compared with a net loss of $1.15 million, or 11 cents per share, for the same quarter last year.
The company beat the average earnings estimate of zero cents per share from five analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters.
Total revenue rose to $113.67 million, up 23 percent from $92.38 million in the second quarter of 2009.
In a news release Thursday, USA Truck President and Chief Executive Cliff Beckham called the earnings results a solid yearover-year improvement.
The gains were achieved through “disciplined execution of our long-term strategic plan, and aided by an improving operating environment and the sale of a fuel contract,” Beckham said.
During the quarter, USA Truck entered into and later sold a fuel-hedge contractthat reduced fuel costs after taxes by $700,000 or 7 cents per share.
The company’s brokerage segment, called Strategic Capacity Solutions, showed the biggest gain in base revenue, at 171.2 percent. Base revenue for the intermodal, or railto-truck, segment grew 53.8 percent, and trucking’s base revenue per total mile rose 6.1 percent.
Beckham said one of USA Truck’s priorities for the rest of 2010 is to increase its tractor utilization, or miles per tractor per week. With that goal hampered by a tight market for qualified drivers, the company plans to intensify its driver recruiting and retention efforts.
Another priority is trimming maintenance costs by replacing high-mileage tractors with about 285 that have already been purchased and another 300 to 500 to be bought and placed in service starting in November.
Donald Broughton, a seniorresearch analyst with Avondale Partners in St. Louis, predicted in April that USA Truck would likely end its losing streak in the second quarter.
“It’ll look like an overnight success, but instead it’s been something the carrier has been working on for the last 1 2/2 years,” he told the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette at the time.
He did not return a phonemessage requesting further comment Thursday.
Last week, Lowell-based J.B. Hunt Transport Services Inc. said its second-quarter income more than doubled, to $52.11 million, or 40 cents per share, over $24.05 million, or 19 cents per share, a year ago.
Arkansas Best Corp. surprised analysts Wednesday by reporting a second-quarter loss of $7.35 million, or 30 cents per share, beating the average loss estimate of 39 cents per share. The Fort Smith holding company lost $15.46 million, or 62 cents per share, in the same quarter of 2009.
Both companies reported an increased demand for freight transportation in the recently ended quarter after several years of decline.
Tontitown-based P.A.M. Transportation Services Inc. is expected to release secondquarter earnings Tuesday.
USA Truck’s shares gained 49 cents, or 3.29 percent, to close Thursday at $15.37 on the Nasdaq. Its stock has traded between $10.78 and $18.79 in the last year.
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Business, Pages 21 on 07/23/2010