TL carriers finish 2011 with financial gains   

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 year-over-year gain of 5.5% in revenue per loaded mile excluding fuel surcharge. That makes seven straight quarters of increases. The rate impact of the heavy bid activity of 2009 has faded and contract rates are rising. It was a pretty tough pricing market for the TL carriers from Q4 2006 through Q2 2010, but that has changed. Operating ratios improved over Q4 2010 and also sequentially from Q3 2011. Truck utilization was down 3% from Q4 of 2010 but up slightly from Q3. A stronger growth in yield led to a double-digit percentage gain in EPS over Q4 2010.

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