Covenant Transportation Group earnings rise in 1st quarter

A Covenant Transport truck drives along I-24 over Cummings Highway.
A Covenant Transport truck drives along I-24 over Cummings Highway.

Covenant Transportation Group earned $10.2 million, or 56 cents per share, on $167.2 million in revenues during the first quarter or the year.

Revenues for the Chattanooga-based trucking firm were below industry projections but still up $7 million from a year ago when Covenant net loss of $1.4 million, or 9 cents per share.

Covenant CEO David Parker said Thursday he is optimistic about this year as a whole with 3 percent to 5 percent more trucks on the road.

"Our outlook for 2015 remains positive," Parker said. "We remain cautious of our ability to achieve meaningful year-over-year improvements in earnings per share in the second half of the year (taking into consideration expected weighted average diluted shares year-over-year increases of approximately 21 percent for the third quarter and 11 percent for the fourth quarter)."

Upcoming Events