Stifel Nicolaus reports improving Q1 financial performance for TL carriers   

Stifel Nicolaus (www.stifel.com) reported yield and financial performance gains for publicly traded truckload carriers in Q1 compared with Q1 of 2010. The Stifel industry sector Snapshot for the TL sector showed a gain of 4.5% in revenue per loaded mile excluding fuel surcharge. That matches Q4 as 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 over Q1 2010 but deteriorated sequentially from Q4 2010. Truck utilization was also better than Q1 of 2010 but down somewhat from later 2010 quarters. A stronger growth in yield led to a substantial gain in EPS over a weak 2010.

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