Chattanooga stocksBuoyed by cheaper gas and more shipments, trucking giant Covenant Transport sped ahead of all other publicly traded companies in Chattanooga by more than tripling its stock price in 2014.
Shares of Covenant Transport surged in 2014 by more than 230 percent, continuing a six-year run that has pushed up Covenant’s stock by more than 18-fold from the low reached in 2008.
From 2004 to 2008 leading up and into the Great Recession, Covenant shares plunged nearly 93 percent, reaching a low of only $1.49 per share in October 2008. The Chattanooga-based trucking company lost a total of more than $106.5 million from 2006 through 2011.
But since then Covenant profits have rebounded and analysts expect the company to more than double profits in 2014 over the previous year. Covenant authorized the issuance of another 2.2 million shares of stock this fall to fetch nearly $50 million of additional capital to further pay down company debt.
Jim Campbell, managing partner for the Chattanooga-based Campbell Asset Management LLC, said the drop in oil prices and the rise in the U.S. economy enticed investors to bid up Covenant stock.