• Revenue (excluding fuel surcharge): $1.2 billion, flat year over year.
• Adjusted Income from Operations: $44 million, compared to $48 million a year ago.
• Adjusted Diluted Earnings Per Share (EPS): $0.18, compared to $0.20 a year ago.
• Truckload Revenue (excluding fuel surcharge): $532 million, 1% below the same period a year ago.
• Truckload Operating Income: $24 million, down 3% year over year.
• Intermodal Revenue (excluding fuel surcharge): $265 million, 1% higher than the third quarter of 2023.
• Intermodal Operating Income: $16 million, a $5 million increase compared to the same period last year.
• Logistics Revenue (excluding fuel surcharge): $314 million, down 4% year over year.
• Logistics Operating Income: $8 million, compared to $9 million a year ago.
• Net Capital Expenditures (CapEx): $154 million below the prior year.
• Free Cash Flow Improvement: $154 million year-to-date improvement compared to last year.
• Share Repurchase Program: $4 million of opportunistic purchases during the quarter.
• Dividends Returned to Shareholders: $50 million, 5% higher than the period a year ago.
• Net Debt Leverage: 0.15 times at the end of the quarter.
• Full Year 2024 EPS Guidance: $0.66 to $0.72.

• Warning! GuruFocus has detected 7 Warning Sign with SNDR.

Release Date: November 06, 2024

For the complete transcript of the earnings call, please refer to the full earnings call transcript.

Positive Points

• Schneider National Inc (NYSE:SNDR) experienced a 40% year-over-year growth in intermodal earnings, driven by execution and structural internal cost improvements.
• The company maintained pricing discipline in a competitive environment, achieving mid-single-digit percentage rate improvements in network contract renewals.
• Dedicated truckload operations showed resilience with a 50% reduction in account churn from 2023 levels, indicating strong customer retention.
• The logistics segment remained profitable despite a competitive brokerage market, leveraging the FreightPower platform for shippers and carriers.
• Schneider National Inc (NYSE:SNDR) reported a 30% reduction in DOT reportable accidents, showcasing improvements in safety performance and reducing overall exposure.

Negative Points

• The network truck business faced significant challenges, with more than 100% of earnings in the truckload segment coming from the dedicated sector.
• Schneider National Inc (NYSE:SNDR) experienced increased auto liability insurance costs, contributing to a $0.04 headwind on earnings per share.
• Operating supplies and insurance costs reached record levels as a percentage of revenue, with operating supplies at 12.9% and insurance at 2.8%.
• The company faced delays in dedicated implementations, impacting fourth-quarter results due to customer launch delays.
• Despite improvements, the overall freight market recovery was slower than expected, with seasonality trends not sustaining through mid-August to quarter-end.

Q & A Highlights

Q: Can you explain the assumptions behind the full-year guidance, particularly regarding the market and peak season expectations? A: Mark Rourke, CEO, explained that they expect improvement from the third to the fourth quarter due to typical seasonality and secured project work with improved margins. While some pull-forward effects from West Coast container imports were noted, the retail and e-commerce markets are performing as expected, supporting the guidance.

Q: What drove the sequential decline in trucking segment operating income from 2Q to 3Q? A: Mark Rourke, CEO, noted that the decline was due to lower network volumes and increased insurance costs. Darrell Campbell, CFO, added that while dedicated trucking showed resilience, the network side faced volume declines, impacting overall segment performance.

Q: With two quarters of sequential decline in truck count but growth in revenue per truck per week, what is driving this trend? A: Mark Rourke, CEO, explained that disciplined pricing in both dedicated and network segments is key. Dedicated saw some start-up delays, but network pricing improved for the third consecutive quarter, focusing on rate restoration and upgrading the bottom of the portfolio.

Q: How should we think about operating supplies and insurance costs as a percentage of revenue going forward? A: Darrell Campbell, CFO, stated that insurance costs are impacted by increased litigation and premiums, despite reduced incident frequency. Operating supplies costs are influenced by lower gains on equipment sales and pressures on owner operators, with revenue not yet normalized.

Q: What is the path to profitability for the one-way network business, and how does the cycle impact this? A: Mark Rourke, CEO, emphasized the need for rate restoration and leveraging strategic growth drivers like dedicated and intermodal. The focus is on improving yields and increasing owner operator capacity to minimize volatility and enhance profitability.

For the complete transcript of the earnings call, please refer to the full earnings call transcript.