ArcBest Corp. said Friday that it's net income rose nearly 6% to $2.84 per share in the first quarter of its 100th year as a company.
"As ArcBest celebrates its 100th anniversary this year, I'm proud of the ArcBest team for their adaptability and spirit of innovation, and I am grateful to our customers, who trust us each day to help them build and manage effective supply chains," said Judy R. McReynolds, ArcBest's chairman, president and chief executive.
The Fort Smith-based freight transportation and logistics firm reported net income of $71.3 million for the quarter that ended March 31, compared with net income of $69.6 million, or $2.68 per share, in the same quarter last year.
Those numbers include an after-tax gain on the sale of FleetNet America of $51.4 million, or $2.05 per share.
The results blew past the average estimate of $1.80 per share by 10 analysts surveyed by Yahoo Finance. However, adjusting for non-recurring items lowered net income to $1.58 per share.
ArcBest's total revenue tumbled 17% from last year's first quarter, to $1.11 billion.
"In the first quarter, we launched our revolutionary freight movement technology, Vaux, as we continued to grow our customer base and better utilize available network capacity to increase tonnage," McReynolds said.
And the completion of the sale of FleetNet America, a trucking fleet maintenance and repair service, "strengthened our balance sheet and positioned ArcBest to further accelerate the return of capital to shareholders," McReynolds said.
ArcBest's shares closed Friday at $94.40, up $4.50, or 5%, on the Nasdaq stock exchange. Its shares have traded between $65.88 and $104.87 in the past year.
The company released its earnings results before the stock markets opened Friday.
ArcBest's asset-based business, ABF Freight, reported revenue of $697.8 million for the first quarter, down from $705.3 million a year ago.
The company said total tonnage per day grew 2.7%, and total shipments per day increased 7.9%. Still, the company saw less-than-truckload-rated weight per shipment slip 2.5%.
ArcBest said in its news release that ABF Freight's first-quarter revenue drop compared with last year's increase was "influenced by reduced customer order quantities related to softness in the general economy."
According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, for the week ending Thursday, on-highway diesel fuel cost an average of $4.08 per gallon. That's down 4 cents from the previous week and $1.08 from the same period a year ago.
On Wednesday, the company's board of directors said it will pay a quarterly cash dividend of 12 cents per share on May 24.
Company executives held a conference call later in the morning to discuss the earnings results with analysts. A replay of the webcast can be accessed through ArcBest's website at arcb.com through June 15.
Graphs showing ArcBest Corp. first quarter information.