Freight revenue for Covenant Transport fell 9 percent in the third quarter from year-ago levels, helping to push profits in the ditch this summer for the Chattanooga-based trucking giant.
Covenant reported Wednesday a net loss of $11.2 million, or 76 cents per share, on revenues of $161.4 million in the three months ended Sept. 30. A year ago in the same period, Covenant earned $1.9 million, or 13 cents per share, on revenues of $164.8 million.
The latest quarterly loss includes a write down of $9.4 million, or 64 cents per share, in the value assigned to previous acquisitions by Covenant, which company CEO David Parker said "does not change anything about our fundamental business."
But the operating results for Covenant still came in three cents per share worse than what analysts had forecast as an operating loss of 9 cents per share for the quarter.
In his earnings statement released after the market closed Wednesday, Parker said the company "will continue to evaluate decisions in coordination with our customers as to which freight is worth transporting."
"The simple fact is that we have not been getting enough freight revenue per tractor to justify serving all of our lanes," Parker said.