Swift Transportation Co. (NYSE: SWFT) said late last evening that its net income in the fiscal first quarter jumped more than three times as revenue improved across all segments while favorable comparables (fewer debt extinguishment charges compared to year earlier quarter) and slight decline in fuel prices also boosted the bottom line.
Shares climbed about 6.75% in extended hours trading as both earnings and revenue edged past Street’s estimates.
Swift, which is one of the leading truckload carriers in North America, has witnessed steady improvement in its top line growth, sequentially, ever since it went public in 2010.
The company expects to improve its revenue in this fiscal year and increase the utilization of its current fleet before including more containers.
For the fiscal first quarter ended March 31, the Phoenix AZ based Company posted earnings of $23.3 million or 17 cents a share compared to a net income of $6.2 million or 4 cents a share. Excluding the impact of onetime items, adjusted earnings came at 21 cents a share, which was 5 cents better than what analysts were expecting, according to a data compiled by FactSet Research.
Revenue during the period rose 4% to $856.8 million from $826.9 million, in the same quarter of last year. Analysts’ consensus estimate was for $862.7 million.
Although the Company had 130 fewer trucks running in the fiscal first quarter, remaining trucks in its fleet were used at full capacity with utilization rate jumping 3.2% from the year-earlier quarter. For Swift, the truckload segment accounts for the biggest pie of the entire revenue.
Operating revenue from the truckload segment rose 1.5%, it jumped 4.5% in dedicated segment while in intermodal segment it climbed 12%.
Overall, operating revenue increased 3.6% to $856.8 million.
During the quarter, fuel expenses declined a tad from a year ago to $151.9 million.
While loss on debt extinguishment contracted 76% from the previous year, interest expense fell 22% in the fiscal first quarter.
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