Arkansas Best Corp. posts $5.6 million loss in third quarter

Arkansas Best announced early Wednesday morning a third quarter 2009 net loss of $5.6 million, compared to net income of $15.4 million in the third quarter of 2008.

While the $5.6 million loss is better than the $15.4 million loss in the second quarter, the Fort Smith-based less-than-truckload company has lost $50.17 million in the past four quarters.

“Our third quarter results reflect the on-going impact of lower freight levels and competitive industry pricing that deteriorated further compared to the first half of the year,” said Robert A. Davidson, Arkansas Best president and CEO. “We are now entering the fourth year of a severe freight decline that is unprecedented in our company’s history. It is unclear when business levels will benefit from a significant improvement in our nation’s economy.”

The company had third quarter revenue of $399 million, a per day dip of 19.5% from the same quarter of 2008.

And if there is any good news, the 23-cent per share loss was less than the consensus estimate of a loss of 36 cents per share. Possibly another bright spot is in the moderation of the decline in the company’s tonnage. Tonnage per day decreased 10.1% compared to the third quarter of 2008. For the first half of 2009, tonnage shipped was down 17.3% compared to the same period of 2008.

“The smaller decline in ABF’s third quarter tonnage implies an improving freight environment compared to the first half of the year. However, this year-over-year trend is primarily related to comparisons back to last year’s third quarter when business levels fell sharply. Nevertheless, this quarter’s tonnage also benefitted from modest market share gains from our LTL competitors,” Davidson noted in a statement.

For the first nine months of 2009, the company has lost $38.849 million compared to an income gain of $40.142 in the same period of 2008. Total revenue for the first nine months is $1.101 billion, down 23.5% from the $1.441 billion in the 2008 period.