U.S. Xpress Enterprises rolled out of the first quarter of 2021 with operating revenue of $450.8 million compared to $432.6 million in the first quarter of 2020, and operating income of $8 million compared to a loss of $3.7 million in the first quarter of 2020.
“I am pleased with our team’s continued execution of our digital initiatives, which are designed to support our goal of doubling our revenues over the next four years,” U.S. Xpress CEO Eric Fuller said in sharing the results Thursday.
The company missed analysts’ predictions for earnings per share by a penny, with earnings of 5 cents per share, compared to a loss of 19 cents per share in the first quarter of 2020.
Brokerage revenue grew to $81.8 million, up 62% compared to the first quarter of 2020, with 67% of volumes processed across the company’s digital platform called Variant.
The Variant fleet includes load planning and scheduling performed by a suite of machine learning and artificially intelligent algorithms. Variant maximizes loaded miles per week, which helps improve both company profits and driver retention. Fuller has said he expects the digitally recruited, dispatched and managed asset-based fleet to transform the industry.