Old Dominion Freight Line ODFL is scheduled to report first-quarter 2025 results on April 23, before market open.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for ODFL’s first-quarter 2025 earnings per share has been revised downward by 0.9% in the past 60 days to $1.15 per share. The consensus mark implies a 14.2% decline from the year-ago actuals. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for ODFL’s first-quarter 2025 revenues is pegged at $1.38 billion, indicating a 5.5% decrease year over year.

ODFL’s earnings surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate in three of the preceding four quarters and met the mark once in the remaining quarter, delivering an average rise of 2%.

Let’s see how things have shaped up for ODFL this earnings season.

Factors Likely to Have Influenced ODFL’s Q1 Performance

The top-line performance in the first quarter is expected to have suffered from weak freight demand, geopolitical uncertainty, tariff-related uncertainties and high inflationary pressure.

The freight market downturn is expected to have significantly impacted the company’s performance in the to-be-reported quarter. The decline in demand for freight services is likely to have reduced shipments and rates, impacting the company’s top line.

Per our model, we expect revenues from LTL (Less-Than-Truckload) Services to be $1.36 billion, which indicates a decline of 5.7%, and other Services revenues to be $14.5 million, implying a rise of 8.5%, respectively, from the first-quarter 2024 actuals. Low fuel costs might aid the March quarter bottom-line results.

What Our Model Says About ODFL

Our proven model does not conclusively predict an earnings beat for ODFL this time. The combination of a positive Earnings ESP and a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), 2 (Buy) or 3 (Hold) increases the odds of an earnings beat. However, that’s not the case here.

ODFL has an Earnings ESP of -0.12% and a Zacks Rank #3 at present. You can uncover the best stocks to buy or sell before they’re reported with our Earnings ESP Filter.

Highlights of Q4

Old Dominion Freight Line’s fourth-quarter 2024 earnings per share of  $1.23 beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $1.17 but dropped 16.3% year over year. Management stated that all per-share data, even for the prior-year period, have been adjusted to reflect the two-for-one stock split. ODFL announced the stock split in the first quarter.

Revenues of $1.39 billion marginally beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $1.38 billion but decreased 7.3% year over year. An 8.2% decline in less-than-truckload tons per day hurt results.

Stocks to Consider

Here are a few stocks from the broader Zacks Transportation sector that investors may consider, as our model shows that these have the right combination of elements to beat on earnings this reporting cycle. See the Zacks Earnings Calendar to stay ahead of market-making news.

C.H. Robinson CHRW has an Earnings ESP of +1.37% and a Zacks Rank #3 at present. CHRW is scheduled to report first-quarter 2025 earnings on April 30. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for first-quarter 2025 earnings has been revised 1.94% upward in the past 90 days. CHRW’s earnings beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate in each of the preceding four quarters, the average beat being 21.7%. 

Expeditors International of Washington EXPD has an Earnings ESP of +3.76% and a Zacks Rank at present. EXPD is scheduled to report first-quarter 2025 earnings on May 6.  

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for first-quarter 2025 earnings has been revised 1.94% upward in the past 90 days. EXPD’s earnings beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate in each of the preceding four quarters, the average beat being 11.6%.

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C.H. Robinson Worldwide, Inc. (CHRW) : Free Stock Analysis Report

Expeditors International of Washington, Inc. (EXPD) : Free Stock Analysis Report

Old Dominion Freight Line, Inc. (ODFL) : Free Stock Analysis Report

This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).

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