Heartland Express reports Q2 EPS (4c), consensus (6c)

Reports Q2 revenue $274.8M, consensus $275.13M. Heartland Express Chief Executive Officer Mike Gerdin commented on the quarterly operating results and ongoing initiatives of the Company, “Our consolidated operating results for the three and six months ended June 30, 2024 reflect the combination of an extended and significant period of weak freight demand, driven by excess capacity in the industry and ongoing operating cost inflation. While I am pleased with our operating improvements sequentially as an organization, we have more work to do and will need freight demand improvements in order to reach our historical operating results target of an operating ratio of 85% or lower within the next two years. Specifically, our second quarter 2024 operating results showed sequential improvement to the first quarter of 2024 where operating revenue increased $4.4 million and our consolidated operating ratio improved from 105.3% in the first quarter to 99.9% in the second quarter of 2024. We point to continued internal efforts at Smith Transport and Contract Freighters, Inc. (“CFI”), our two most recent acquisitions completed in 2022, to improve our operating results. Our efforts continue to focus on further cost reductions and information system consolidation projects that will help us achieve future asset utilization improvements. Further, we utilized the cash generated from our operations to continue paying down the debt assumed and initiated to acquire these two organizations. We have repaid $63.4 million of debt, year to date, in 2024 and $258.9 million has been paid in total since the acquisitions were completed in 2022.”