USA Truck Shrinks Loss Despite Winter Disruptions

Like many of its trucking counterparts, USA Truck dealt with rough winter weather conditions in the first quarter.

The Van Buren-based trucking firm reported revenues of $145.48 million and a net loss of $1.59 million compared to $132.02 million in revenue and a net loss of $2.47 million in last year’s first quarter period.

“Despite the most severe winter weather we have experienced in decades across our operating geography, we posted another quarter of strong year-over-year progress towards our operational improvement goals,” said President and CEO John Simone. “Our business model proved resilient with our asset-light Strategic Capacity Solutions (SCS) business delivering record performance even as the harsh weather impeded our Trucking operations.”

For the first two months of the quarter and the first week in March, Simone said that there was plenty of disruption in the company’s trucking operations.

“The unusual frequency and severity of winter storms disrupted our Trucking operations throughout January, February and the first week of March. The final three weeks of March, however, were characterized by unusually strong freight volumes, which outstripped both our and the industry’s supply of trucks, creating widespread dislocations in the marketplace as pent-up shipping demand from the severe winter met a worsening shortage of drivers in the industry,” he said.

USA Truck continues to make progress in its turnaround plan, Simone said. The company underwent a string of quarterly losses in the last three years and it has fended off hostile takeover attempts from competing firms.

Simone added that the trucking industry as a whole is dealing with a severe shortage in truck drivers and USA Truck has not been immune to the problem.

“One obstacle facing the entire industry is the shortage of drivers brought on by more restrictive federal hours-of-service rules, increasing opportunities in other industry verticals such as housing and energy, and long-term demographic trends in which more drivers are leaving our industry each year than are entering it,” he said. “We have taken steps we believe will improve recruiting and retention over the course of the year and allow us to capitalize fully on the healthy demand and pricing environment in the truckload marketplace.”

USA Truck shares closed trading at $18.00 on Tuesday. The company’s stock has traded between $5.09 and $19.57 during the past year.