Stifel Nicolaus reports that TL carriers posted a second straight quarter of strong yield increases   

Stifel Nicolaus (www.stifel.com) reported yield and financial performance gains for publicly traded truckload carriers in Q4. The Stifel industry sector Snapshot for the TL sector showed a gain of 4.5% in revenue per loaded mile excluding fuel surcharge. That is the best year-over-year gain since 2006. The rate impact of the heavy bid activity of 2009 is starting to fade and contract rates are rising. Spot market TL rates rose last year but it takes longer for contract rates to expire, so those gains have been slower to materialize. It's been a pretty tough pricing market for the TL carriers for the last four years. Operating ratios improved substantially from 2009 and from Q1 2010 but deteriorated slightly from Q2 2010. Truck utilization was lower than Q2 and remains below normal levels, but was better than Q3. A stronger growth in yield led to a substantial gain in EPS over a very weak 2009.

Graph reproduced with permission from Stifel Nicolaus. For more information contact: JGLarkin@Stifel.com.