Chief Executive Douglas Stotlar said costs for corporate office consolidation and severance reduced profit, but "we've seen variable costs decline, pricing improve and tonnage levels moderate."
Excluding one-time items, the company earned 22 cents a share in the third quarter, 4 cents below analysts' average forecast, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.
Con-way reported a net loss of $8.2 million, or 15 cents a share, compared with a profit of $13.5 million, or 27 cents, a year earlier.
Toward the end of the quarter, "revenue per loaded mile improved as pricing remained relatively stable," Stotlar said. "We expect results to improve as Con-way Truckload continues to focus on higher-margin opportunities and increasing asset utilization."
The San Mateo, California-based company said quarterly revenue rose 12.1 percent to $1.27 billion. Analysts had expected $1.32 billion.
Con-way Freight, its less-than-truckoad division, instituted a 6.5 percent general rate increase on the 25 percent of the business not covered by contract rates, the company said on a conference call.
It also said it has no plans to increase the fleet in 2011 in Con-way Truckload, the company's full-truckload transport business.
