C.H. Robinson (CHRW) Q4 Earnings & Revenues Beat, Up Y/Y

C.H. Robinson Worldwide’s CHRW fourth-quarter 2020 earnings of $1.08 per share surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 94 cents. The bottom line also surged 47.9% year over year.

Total revenues of $4,549.5 million not only outperformed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $4,125.9 million, but also increased 19.9% year over year owing to higher pricing and increased volumes across most of the company’s service lines, thanks to improvement in freight environment.

Total operating expenses dipped 1.9% year over year to $433.8 million, primarily due to cost saving initiatives. Adjusted gross profits climbed 10.7% year over year to $640.6 million, primarily owing to higher pricing and volumes at the Global Forwarding business segment as well as contributions from the Prime Distribution Services acquisition.

The company returned $112.8 million to its shareholders in the fourth quarter through a combination of cash dividends ($2.5 million) and share repurchases ($110.3 million). Capital expenditures totaled $13.7 million in the quarter under review. For the full year, capital expenditures were $54 million. The company anticipates capital expenditures to be $55 million-$65 million in 2021, with the maximum reserved for technology spends.

C.H. Robinson Worldwide, Inc. Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise

C.H. Robinson Worldwide, Inc. Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise

C.H. Robinson Worldwide, Inc. price-consensus-eps-surprise-chart | C.H. Robinson Worldwide, Inc. Quote

Segmental Results

At North American Surface Transportation (“NAST”), total revenues were $3,089.67 million (up 10.8%) in the fourth quarter. Segmental revenues increased due to higher truckload pricing and increase in less than truckload ("LTL") shipments. Adjusted gross profits at the segment inched up 1.6% with a 4 percentage point benefit from the Prime acquisition in March 2020. NAST results include Robinson Fresh transportation, which was previously reported under a separate segment.

Total revenues at Global Forwarding summed $1,030.36 million, up 71.7% year over year. Higher pricing in ocean and air, increased charter flights, and larger shipment sizes boosted results. Adjusted gross profits at the segment surged 39.6% year over year.

A historical presentation of the results on an enterprise basis is given below:

Transportation: The unit (comprising Truckload, Intermodal, LTL, Ocean, Air, Customs and Other logistics services) delivered adjusted gross profits of $618.60 million in the quarter under consideration, up 11% from the prior-year figure.

Adjusted gross profits at the Truckload segment dipped 1.4% year over year to $277.51 million. Volumes declined 3.5% year over year. LTL adjusted gross profits increased 3.7% year over year to $117.86 million with volumes increasing 20% in the quarter.

Adjusted gross profits at the Ocean transportation segment ascended 53% year over year to $112.41 million. The same at the air transportation segment surged 37.7% to $35.72 million. Meanwhile, customs-adjusted gross profits augmented 4.6% to $23.98 million.

Other logistics services’ adjusted gross profits soared 28.7% to $51.11 million.

Sourcing: Adjusted gross profits at the segment inched up 1.5% to $21.98 million.

Liquidity

This Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) company exited the fourth quarter with cash and cash equivalents of $243.80 million compared with $447.86 million at the end of 2019. Long-term debt was $1,093.30 million compared with $1,092.45 million at 2019-end. You can see the complete list of today's Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

Sectorial Snapshot

Let’s take a look at some of the other recently released earnings reports from companies within the Zacks Transportation sector.

United Airlines UAL, carrying a Zacks Rank #3, incurred a loss (excluding 6 cents from non-recurring items) of $7 per share in the fourth quarter of 2020, wider than the Zacks Consensus Estimate of a loss of $6.56. Meanwhile, operating revenues of $3,412 million lagged the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $3,420.4 million.

J.B. Hunt Transport Services JBHT, carrying a Zacks Rank #3, reported earnings of $1.44 per share, beating the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $1.27. Total operating revenues of $2,737.7 million also surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $2,514.3 million.

Delta Air Lines DAL, carrying a Zacks Rank #4 (Sell), incurred a loss (excluding $1.34 from non-recurring items) of $2.53 per share in the fourth quarter of 2020, wider than the Zacks Consensus Estimate of a loss of $2.43. Total revenues of $3,973 million topped the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $3,754.5 million.

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