YRC Worldwide Inc. (YRCW) said Friday that it managed to swing to a third-quarter profit, as lower operating expenses offset declining revenue. Saddled with debt that kept the less-than-truckload company teetering on bankruptcy for several years, earnings have been tepidly increasing the past few quarters via ongoing efforts to cut costs and increase profit margins.
For the latest quarter, the company reported a profit of $3 million, compared to a loss of $122.3 million in the 2011 third quarter. Earnings per share were a bit of a quagmire because of a 1 for 300 reverse stock split last December and one-time charges. The results were a loss per share of $4.30 in Q3 2012 as compared to a loss of $153.74 per share in the year prior quarter.
The Overland Park, Kansas-based company hauled in $1.24 billion in third-quarter revenue this year, compared to $1.28 billion in the third quarter last year. Both figures missed Wall Street estimates of earnings loss of $3.94 per share on revenue of $1.27 billion.
“Despite the current economic headwinds, we were able to increase profitability through a combination of pricing discipline, customer mix management and an unrelenting focus in the areas of safety, costs, and operational fundamentals,” said Chief Executive James Welch.
Helping the embattled trucking company turn things around was streamlined costs that decreased total operating expenses by 7.1 percent to $1.21 billion, with lower costs for salaries and wages, purchased transportation.
YRC reported, on a non-GAAP basis, adjusted EBITDA for the third quarter of 2012 of $78.8 million, a $24.1 million improvement over the $54.7 million adjusted EBITDA during the comparable period in 2011.
“Since the new board of directors and management team were put into place in the third quarter of 2011, adjusted EBITDA has increased over each comparable prior year’s quarter, and we have most recently generated two consecutive quarters of positive consolidated operating income,” Welch added.
YRCW is trading down by about 1 percent at $7.50 per share early Friday with the earnings miss. Although shares are off by nearly 25 percent across 2012, shares have appreciated by 64 percent from lows of $4.56 each early in April and recently climbed above the 200 day moving average (a bullish sign) for the first time in more than three years.
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