Marten Transport reports Q4 EPS 15c, consensus 18c

Reports Q4 revenue $268.2M, consensus $271.62M. Executive chairman Randolph Marten stated, “This quarter’s earnings were heavily pressured by the freight market recession’s weak demand and oversupply, inflationary operating costs, and cumulative impact of decreased freight rates leading to freight network disruptions. Additionally, our higher insurance and claims and health insurance expense and less revenue equipment gains reduced our operating income by $4.8M, or 4.4c per diluted share, from this year’s third quarter. We remain focused on both minimizing the freight market’s impact on our operations, and investing in and positioning our operations to capitalize on profitable organic growth opportunities as the market moves toward equilibrium from its current recessionary late stages – with fair compensation for our premium services. Accordingly, we have not agreed to any rate reductions since last August.”