Werner Enterprises Q2 Profit Declines

7/20/2009 7:10 PM ET

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(RTTNews) - Monday, transportation and logistics company Werner Enterprises Inc. (WERN: News ), reported a sharp decline in earnings for the second quarter, hurt mainly by a sharp drop in revenues in its trucking and value added services, amid a challenging freight market. Earnings were in line with Street expectations, while revenues fell short of analysts' estimates.

The Omaha, Nebraska-based company's second quarter net income decreased to $12.70 million from $18.11 million in the year-ago quarter. On a per share basis, earnings declined 31% to $0.18 per share from $0.25 per share in the prior-year quarter.

On average, 16 analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected the company to earn $0.18 per share for the quarter. Analysts' estimates typically exclude one-time charges and gains.

Quarterly revenues decreased 30% to $403.10 million from $578.20 million in the prior-year quarter. Street analysts had a consensus revenue estimate of $435.41 million for the second quarter.

Trucking revenues, excluding trucking fuel surcharges for the quarter declined 16% to $310.10 million from $368.60 million, while value added services revenues dropped 25% to $50.50 million from $67.63 million in the prior-year quarter.

Operating income for the quarter decreased to $22.01 million from $30.90 million , while operating expenses decreased to $381.04 million from $547.31 million in the same quarter last year.

The company noted that the freight volumes improved from the extremely weak shipping levels experienced during first quarter of fiscal 2009 and that it experienced some seasonal freight improvement as the quarter progressed from April to May to June 2009. Furthermore, it reduced its fleet size by 10% when comparing second quarter to the prior-year quarter. The company said that based on current market conditions, it does not plan to make further significant reductions to its fleet, unless there is a substantial decline in the freight market or a loss of customer business.

For the six-month period, net income dropped to $19.60 million or $0.27 per share from $26.50 million or $0.37 per share in the same period last year. Operating revenues for the six months period decreased to $797.60 million from $1.10 billion last year.

WERN closed Monday's regular trading at $19.30, up $0.35 or 1.85%, on a volume of 2.42 million shares on the NYSE. In after hours, the stock lost $1.20 or 6.22%, trading at $18.10.