Van Buren-based USA Truck continues to lose money, but the losses are trending lower and officials with the trucking company maintain that their turnaround plan is delivering better results.
The company recorded a loss of $1.589 million during the first quarter of 2014, an improvement over the $2.474 million during the first quarter of 2013. Total revenue was $145.489 million, up 10.1% compared to the first quarter of 2013.
The 15 cent loss for earnings per share was better than the consensus estimate of a 20-cent per share loss, according to the earnings report released early Wednesday (April 30).
Company officials said the company improved during a quarter in which several rounds of severe winter weather made operations difficult. The company also recorded an expense of $400,000 related to its defense of the failed hostile takeover attempt by Phoenix-based Knight Transportation.
"The unusual frequency and severity of winter storms disrupted our Trucking operations throughout January, February and the first week of March,” USA Truck President and CEO John Simone said in the earnings statement. “The final three weeks of March, however, were characterized by unusually strong freight volumes, which outstripped both our and the industry's supply of trucks, creating widespread dislocations in the marketplace as pent-up shipping demand from the severe winter met a worsening shortage of drivers in the industry.”
The first quarter loss follows a 2013 that saw improvements, but continued losses. USA Truck posted a net loss of $9.11 million in 2013. While an improvement compared to the net loss of $17.671 million in 2012, it marks the fifth consecutive year of losses for the trucking company.
The company has lost more than $47.9 million in the past five years. The last time the company strung together meaningful numbers was in the middle of the previous decade when 2004, 2005 and 2006 delivered net income of $7.432 million, $15.568 million and $12.441 million, respectively.
"We are continuing to execute our turnaround plan, focusing on the same high-leverage activities that drove significant improvement in our results throughout 2013. We are pleased with our progress in many areas,” Simone said in the statement. “One obstacle facing the entire industry is the shortage of drivers brought on by more restrictive federal hours-of-service rules, increasing opportunities in other industry verticals such as housing and energy, and long-term demographic trends in which more drivers are leaving our industry each year than are entering it.”
USA Truck shares (NASDAQ: USAK) were set to open Wednesday at around $18 per share. The Tuesday closing price was $17.92. During the past 52 weeks the share price ranged from a $19.57 high to a $5.09 low.
The City Wire will update this story later today.