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Werner Earnings Fall Short of Estimates in Q3, Revenues Increase Y/Y

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Key Takeaways

  • WERN incurs Q3 loss per share of 3 cents; revenues beat estimates and rose 3.5% to $771.5M.
  • WERN's Q2 revenues gain from growth in the Logistics segment, partially offset by weakness in the TTS segment.
  • Logistics revenues rose 12% with operating margin up 140 bps, while TTS margin fell 300 bps.

Werner Enterprises, Inc. (WERN - Free Report) reported third-quarter 2025 loss per share of 3 cents, against the Zacks Consensus Estimate of earnings of 15 cents per share. In the year-ago quarter, the company reported earnings of 15 cents per share.

Total revenues of $771.5 million beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $768.1 million and rose 3.5% on a year-over-year basis due to an increase in Logistics revenues of $25.8 million, or 12%, partially offset by a $3.0 million, or 1%, decrease in Truckload Transportation Services (TTS) revenues. A portion of the TTS revenue decline was due to $3.3 million lower fuel surcharge revenues.

WERN reported adjusted operating income of $10.91 million, down 50% year over year. Adjusted operating margin of 1.4% declined 150 basis points from the year-ago quarter.

Werner Enterprises, Inc. Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise

Werner Enterprises, Inc. Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise

Werner Enterprises, Inc. price-consensus-eps-surprise-chart | Werner Enterprises, Inc. Quote

WERN’s Q3 Segmental Results

Revenues in the TTS segment fell 1% on a year-over-year basis to $519.78 million. Adjusted operating income of $8.95 million fell 63% year over year. The adjusted operating margin of 1.7% declined 300 basis points.

Logistics’ revenues totaled $232.58 million, up 12% year over year. Adjusted operating income rose more than 100% to $4.16 billion in the third quarter of 2025. Adjusted operating margin increased 140 basis points year over year to 1.8%.

Liquidity

As of Sept. 30, 2025, Werner had cash and cash equivalents of $50.98 million compared with $51.42 million at the prior-quarter end. Long-term debt (net of current portion) of $725 million was flat sequentially.

The company generated $44.1 million of cash from operations in third-quarter 2025. Net capital expenditure amounted to$35.2 million.

Werner did not repurchase any shares in the third quarter of 2025. As of Sept. 30, 2025, WERN had 5.0 million shares remaining under its new share repurchase authorization.

WERN’s Outlook

For 2025, Werner now anticipates TTS truck growth to decline from breakeven to 2% (prior view: up 1-4%). Net capital expenditure is now estimated to be in the range of $155-$175 million (prior view: $145-$185 million).

Under the TTS guidance, WERN now projects dedicated revenues per truck per week to rise from breakeven to 1.5% in 2025 (prior view: 0-3%). The full-year 2025 tax rate is now anticipated to be in the range of 26%-27% (prior view: 25-26%).

Currently, Werner carries a Zacks Rank #4 (Sell).

You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

Q3 Performances of Other Transportation Companies

Delta Air Lines (DAL - Free Report) reported third-quarter 2025 earnings (excluding 46 cents from non-recurring items) of $1.71 per share, which beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $1.52. Earnings increased 14% on a year-over-year basis due to low fuel costs.

Revenues in the September-end quarter were $16.67 billion, beating the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $15.79 billion and increasing 6.4% on a year-over-year basis. Due to improving air-travel demand, adjusted operating revenues (excluding third-party refinery sales) increased 4.1% year over year to $15.2 billion. 

J.B. Hunt Transport Services, Inc. (JBHT - Free Report) reported third-quarter 2025 earnings of $1.76 per share, which surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $1.47 and improved 18.1% year over year.

Total operating revenues of $3.05 billion surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $3.02 billion and were down 0.5% year over year. JBHT’s third-quarter revenue performance was hurt by a 1% and 4% decline in gross revenue per load in Intermodal (JBI) and Truckload (JBT), respectively, a decrease in load volume of 8% and 1% in Integrated Capacity Solutions (ICS) and Dedicated Contract Services (DCS), and 8% fewer stops in Final Mile Services (FMS). These items were partially offset by a 3 % improvement in DCS productivity, a 9% increase in revenue per load in ICS and 14% load growth in JBT. Total operating revenue, excluding fuel surcharge revenue, fell less than 1% year over year.

United Airlines Holdings, Inc. (UAL - Free Report) reported mixed third-quarter 2025 results wherein the company’s earnings beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate, but revenues missed the same.

UAL's third-quarter 2025 adjusted earnings per share (EPS) (excluding 12 cents from non-recurring items) of $2.78 surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $2.64 but declined 16.5% on a year-over-year basis. The reported figure lies above the guided range of $2.25 and $2.75.

Operating revenues of $15.2 billion fell short of the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $15.3 billion but increased 2.6% year over year. Passenger revenues (which accounted for 90.7% of the top line) increased 1.9% year over year to $13.8 billion. UAL flights transported 48,382 passengers in the third quarter, up 6.2% year over year.

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