USA Truck narrows 4th-quarter loss

USA Truck Inc. reported Thursday a fourth-quarter net loss of $3.1 million, or 30 cents per share, an improvement from its net loss of $4.4 million, or 42 cents per share, in the same quarter of 2011.

The Van Buren-based dry van truckload carrier said it earned base revenue of $107.1 million in the fourth quarter, a 6.8 percent rise over the $100.3 million generated in the fourth quarter 2011.

“The improved operating fundamentals we experienced toward the end of the third quarter continued into the fourth quarter, and the improvement is reflected in our financial results as we narrowed our loss per share by 28.6% to $0.30 compared to a $0.42 loss a year ago,” President and Chief Executive Officer Cliff Beckham said in a statement. “Sequentially, we nearly cut in half the third quarter’s $0.59 loss per share in a historically seasonally weaker quarter for us.”

For the full year of 2012, base revenue was $408.7 million, down from $411.0 million in the same period of 2011, the company said in a statement. The trucker incurred a net loss of $17.5 million, or $1.70 per share, for the year, compared with a net loss of $10.8 million, or $1.05 per share, in 2011.

Beckham said the company’s trucking segment saw the biggest improvement, producing year-over-year revenue growth for the first time since the second quarter of 2011. “Base Trucking revenue grew 3.4% despite a 3.1% reduction in the average fleet size,” he said in the statement.

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