The second quarter of 2021 marked a full year since the COVID pandemic plunged markets, disrupted supply chains, and catapulted the freight market to unprecedented highs. A look at the corporate earnings statements from some of the biggest fleets around shows how companies have responded to the U.S.'s uneven economic recovery and unpredictable times.
Across the top publicly traded fleets, a few themes remain constant: Rates and volumes are high, labor is short, and tech platforms hold the promise of customer satisfaction.
Here are the earnings reports from the top fleets for the second quarter (Q2) this year. Figures shown within parenthesis represent a loss.
Covenant Transportation posted record-setting numbers in Q2 of 2021 with its highest-ever adjusted earnings per share of $0.96, which stands in stark contrast to 2020's Q2 EPS of $0.02. The company credited its "multiyear transformation into a full-service logistics provider" for providing various streams of revenue. Covenant's CEO, David Parker, said the firm had room to improve in its dedicated segment but had fared better than expected with expedited freight and the asset-light managed freight segment. Overall, Parker sees "freight market demand firing on all cylinders" and expects the market to stay strong into the third quarter and beyond.
"The key highlights of the quarter were our operating freight revenue grew 29% to $232 million compared to the 2020 quarter. Second, our asset-based truckload group revenue grew 9% versus the second quarter of 2020 with 369 less trucks. Our less asset-intensive Managed Freight and warehouse segments grew a combined 89% compared to the second quarter of 2020," said Covenant Logistics Group President Joey Hogan. "On the safety side, despite rising casualty insurance premiums, we produced another solid quarter with our DOT accidents per mile being 7% below the year ago period and our total cost down approximately 3-cents per mile."
Revenue: 2021 YTD: $477.2 million vs. 2020 YTD $402.5 million
2021 2Q: $256.3 million vs. 2020 2Q: $191.6 million
