Matson reports Q4 EPS $1.78, consensus $1.51

Reports Q4 revenue $788.9M, consensus $733.6M. “Matson’s Ocean Transportation and Logistics business segments performed well in the fourth quarter, capping off a solid year for both business segments” said Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Matt Cox. “Our China service experienced solid freight demand with higher year-over-year volume but lower year-over-year freight rates, which when combined with higher operating costs across all tradelanes resulted in a year-over-year decline in Ocean Transportation operating income. Logistics operating income in the quarter also declined year-over-year, which contributed to the year-over-year decline in consolidated operating income. For the full year 2023, our consolidated operating income declined primarily due to lower volume and freight rates in our China service as the Transpacific marketplace transitioned from the pandemic period.” Cox added, “Currently in the Transpacific marketplace, we continue to see steady U.S. consumer demand, which we expect to lead to similar demand for Matson’s CLX and CLX+ services in 2024 as in 2023. Absent a significant change in trajectory of the U.S. economy, we expect trade dynamics across all our tradelanes in 2024 to be comparable to 2023 as consumer-related spending activity is expected to remain stable, leading to year-over-year growth in Ocean Transportation operating income. For Logistics in 2024, we expect challenging business conditions for transportation brokerage at least through the first half of the year, which we expect to lead to lower year-over-year business segment operating income. As such, for 2024 we expect consolidated operating income to approximate the level achieved last year.”