Revenue and income down for USA Truck in the second quarter, first half of 2020

Van Buren-based USA Truck beat estimates on second quarter revenue and income, but the trucking and logistics company continues to run in the red with revenue in the first six months of 2020 down almost 7% and net income posting a $3.482 million loss.

The company posted second quarter net income loss of $931,000, below the $1 million gain in the same period of 2019. An earnings per share loss of 6 cents was better than the consensus estimate of a 9 cents loss. Revenue in the second quarter was $123.737 million, down from the $133.622 million in the same quarter of 2019. The revenue was better than the estimate of $119.23 million.

USA Truck President and CEO James Reed said “unprecedented” economic effects caused by COVID-19 resulted in freight demand and pricing challenges.

“The second quarter of 2020 was unlike any quarter we have seen in transportation, producing unprecedented day to day and week to week swings in freight and pricing due to the COVID-19 pandemic,” Reed noted in the earnings report posted Monday (July 27) after the markets closed. “Our diversified customer base – we classify approximately 80% of our customers as essential / quasi-essential – kept our asset-based freight moving consistently through the quarter. Although our non-essential customers, which are critical to our network despite being a smaller relative percentage of the freight basket, have yet to make a full recovery.”

USA Truck posted an income loss of $3.482 million in the first half of 2020, a wide swing from the $1.502 million gain in the same period of 2020. Revenue in the first half of the year was $250.51 million, down from the $267.596 million in the same period of 2019.

SEGMENT INFO
The trucking segment posted second quarter operating income of $1.176 million, better than the $837,000 in the same quarter of 2019. Operating income in the segment for the first half of the year was a $511,000 loss, lower than the $2.445 million gain in the same period of 2019.

Trucking segment revenue in the second quarter was $87.92 million, down from $96.069 million in the same quarter of 2019. Segment revenue in the first half of 2020 was $180.921 million, down 6.8% compared with $190.609 million in the same period of 2020.

Base revenue per available tractor per week decreased $347 per week, or 10.4%, compared to the second quarter of 2019. Base revenue per loaded mile decreased 5.7% year over year. The average seated tractor count for the second quarter of 2020 was 1,943, up 6.9% over the second quarter 2019 average of 1,817.

The company’s logistics segment – USAT Logistics – posted a second quarter income loss of $176,000 compared with a $1.146 million gain in the same quarter of 2019. The segment has an income loss of $801,000 in the first half of the year, well below the $3.459 million gain the same period of 2019.

“USAT Logistics’ efficiency continued to improve as we saw a 15.7% increase year over year in load count, continuing the recent trend of efficiency gains and throughput capacity. But the broader environment proved challenging as spot prices alternated between near all-time lows and near all-time highs all within the same quarter. We expect this segment will continue to track ahead of the market in coming quarters,” the company noted in the earnings report.

USA Truck shares (NASDAQ: USAK) closed Tuesday at $8.61, down 13 cents. During the past 52 weeks, the share price has ranged between $9.82 and $2.36.