Knight-Swift Transportation missed fourth-quarter expectations but said it is continuing to attack costs and believes it can improve margins in the new year even without a lift in volume and rate. However, the multimodal transportation provider acknowledged it would likely take better demand and pricing to get back to longer-term margin ranges. The Phoenix-based company reported a headline net loss of $6.8 million, or 4 cents per share, Wednesday after the market closed. However, the result included $53 million in noncash charges related to a decision to roll Abilene Motor Express under Swift Transportation. Table: Knight-Swift’s key performance indicators – Consolidated Excluding all one-time charges in the period, adjusted EPS of 31 cents, was 5 cents worse year over year and 4 cents below the consensus estimate. A reduction in interest expense and higher gains on sale combined for a 4-cent tailwind (at a normalized tax rate). Consolidated revenue of $1.86 billion was down slightly y/y in the quarter and came in just shy of the $1.9 billion consensus estimate. Adjusted operating income was down 5% y/y to $101 million. Knight-Swift (NYSE: KNX) issued first-quarter EPS guidance of 28 to 32 cents, bracketing a consensus estimate of 31 cents. window.googletag = window.googletag || {cmd: []}; googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.defineSlot(‘/21776187881/FW-Responsive-Main_Content-Slot1’, [[300, 100], [320, 50], [728, 90], [468, 60]], ‘div-gpt-ad-1709668545404-0’).defineSizeMapping(gptSizeMaps.banner1).addService(googletag.pubads()); googletag.pubads().enableSingleRequest(); googletag.pubads().collapseEmptyDivs(); googletag.enableServices(); }); googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display(‘div-gpt-ad-1709668545404-0’); }); TL belt tightened ahead of market turn Truckload revenue fell 2% y/y to $1.08 billion as a 5% decline in average tractors in service was partially…
