Werner Reports Q1 Revenue of $712M Despite Headwinds
[Stay on top of transportation news: .]
Werner Enterprises reported first-quarter results were below expectations due to insurance costs, weather and customer activity, the carrier reported April 29.
The Omaha, Neb.-based freight and logistics company posted a net loss attributable to itself of $10.1 million, or negative 16 cents a diluted share, for the three months ending March 31. That compared with net income of $6.31 million, 10 cents, during the 2024 period. Total revenue decreased 7% to $712.1 million from $769.1 million.
Results were mixed in terms of Wall Street’s expectations. Analysts anticipated 12 cents per share and quarterly revenue of $746.81 million, according to Zacks Consensus Estimate.
“Our first-quarter results did not meet our expectations,” CEO Derek Leathers said during a call with investors. “We faced several challenges during the quarter, some industrywide, some specific to Werner. But we are acting decisively to address them. At the same time, the underlying progress we’re making in growing dedicated, advancing our technology transformation and more aggressively tightening our cost structure puts us in a stronger position as the environment stabilizes.”
Werner attributed the revenue decline to its truckload and logistics operations. It also noted that a portion of the truckload revenue decline was due to fuel surcharge revenue, which was down $15.3 million. The company, too, highlighted that it had made gains of $100,000 on its strategic investments.
“Our performance was negatively impacted by four factors,” Leathers said. “First, we experienced elevated insurance cost and claims. This accounted for 9 cents of the adjusted EPS impact, with one verdict late in the quarter representing 8 cents related to a 2019 incident, which we are appealing.
“Adverse nuclear verdicts remain an industrywide issue. We, along with our peers, continue to advocate for reform with state and federal government officials.”
Leathers said the second issue was severe weather impacting operations during the quarter, and increased information technology spending also was cited. The fourth issue is isolated operating inefficiencies and lower utilization stemming from select customer decisions and stop-and-go activity from tariff-induced uncertainty.
“The net effect of these headwinds was adjusted EPS being down 25 cents year over year,” Leathers said. “While our results do not reflect our expectations, there are areas where we continue to see momentum and strength that will position us well as we progress through the rest of the year.”
Revenue by segment:
- Truckload Transportation Services decreased 9% to $501.9 million from $551.1 million from the same time last year. The average number of trucks in service for the division decreased 6.6% to 7,415. Average revenue per truck per week decreased 1.4%. An operating loss of $916,000 also was reported, compared with operating income of $20.8 million. This was due primarily to an increase in insurance and claims expense, a smaller fleet size, technology spending and lower gains on the sale of property and equipment.
- Werner Logistics decreased 3% to $195.6 million from $202.5 million in 2024. Truckload logistics revenue decreased 5% due to a drop in shipments and a decline in revenue per shipment. Brokerage volume decreased year over year as well. Power-only units marked its ninth consecutive quarter of volume growth.
- Intermodal revenue increased 14% due to an increase in shipments that was partially offset by lower revenue per shipment.
- Final Mile revenue decreased 12% due to lower volume in the furniture and appliance verticals. The segment also posted an operating loss of $475,000 compared with a loss of $2.33 million last year.
Werner ranks No. 16 on the Transport Topics Top 100 list of the largest for-hire carriers in North America and is No. 4 on the truckload sector list. Also, Werner ranks No. 32 on the TT Top 100 list of the largest logistics companies.
Want more news? Listen to today's daily briefing below or go here for more info:
