Con-way reported net first-quarter profit of $6.9 million, or 12 cents per share, compared with a net loss of $4 million, or 8 cents per share a year ago.
Excluding items, profit jumped to $13.2 million, or 24 cents, compared with a loss of $800,000, or 2 cents per share, a year ago. Analysts, on average, looked for 4 cents per share profit, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.
Revenue rose 7.2 percent from a year ago to $1.25 billion, topping the average forecast of $1.23 billion, according to the Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S average estimate.
Con-way Freight, the company's less-than-truckload (LTL) unit that contributes about 60 percent of its revenue, had a nearly 6 percent revenue increase on improved yield and higher fuel surcharges.
Yield refers to revenue per hundredweight.
Cost controls, lower health care costs, improved efficiency and yield improvement pushed operating income up to $20.3 million in the quarter, compared with a $3.2 million operating loss a year ago.
In the Con-way Truckload business, "empty miles are declining and revenue per loaded mile is rising," Con-way CEO Douglas Stotlar said in a statement.
The company's Menlo Worldwide Logistics business had a 1.3 percent drop in net revenue, and operating income fell about 33 percent from a record quarter a year ago. Lower margins on warehouse and transportation management dragged operating income, the company said. (Reuters)
