LTL vs. Truckload: Who emerged stronger from Q3 earnings reports?

FreightWaves Finance Editor Todd Maiden breaks down Q3 earnings. Capacity drawdown continues, but demand needs to catch up. LTL carriers showed demand improvement and managed costs, while truckload saw profit growth lag. What’s your take on the outlook?

LTL carriers outperformed expectations on both tonnage and pricing in the third quarter, while truckload operators faced mounting cost headwinds that pressured margins even as revenues climbed, according to FreightWaves finance editor Todd Maiden, who covered the earnings reports for multiple public carriers.

Old Dominion Freight Line led the LTL pack, posting its first year-over-year tonnage gain in two years — an inflection that began in September and held into October. The carrier’s revenue per shipment outpaced cost per shipment by 440 basis points, restoring a favorable spread that had been absent for several quarters. Old Dominion reported an operating ratio of 71.5 for the quarter, with XPO and Saia both reporting ORs in the 80s. All three carriers guided for sequential OR deterioration in the fourth quarter, which Maiden attributed to normal seasonality rather than fundamental weakness, noting Old Dominion’s implied Q4 OR of 73.5 would still represent 320 basis points of year-over-year improvement. XPO and Saia were each tracking at least 250 and 230 basis points of year-over-year OR improvement, respectively.

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