C.H. Robinson (CHRW) Q3 Earnings Top Estimates, Soar Y/Y

C.H. Robinson Worldwide, Inc.’s (NASDAQ:CHRW) third-quarter 2018 earnings per share of $1.25 beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $1.17. Moreover, the bottom line surged 47.1% year over year on higher revenues and lower tax rate.

Total revenues rose 13.4% year over year to $4,291.9 million, surpassing the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $4,276.5 million. The top line was boosted by growth across all transportation service lines. Effective tax rate in the quarter under view reduced to 26.5% from 35.2% a year ago owing to the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017.

Total operating expenses increased 12.2% year over year to $448.1 million. However, operating ratio (operating expenses as a percentage of net revenues) of 64.6% compared favorably with 67.3% in the year-ago period.

During the quarter under review, the company returned $150.8 million to shareholders through a combination of dividends ($64.6 million) and share repurchases ($86.2 million), reflecting an increase of 18.7% year over year.

Segmental Results

Total revenues at North American Surface Transportation (NAST) were $2.93 billion (up 18.7%) in the third quarter while the same at Global Forwarding totaled $639.27 million (up 15.8%). At Robinson Fresh, the metric logged $565.59 million (down 7.8%) year over year.

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

Transportation: The unit (comprising Truckload, Intermodal, Less-than-Truckload, Ocean, Air, Customs and Other logistics services) posted net revenues of $668.87 million in the quarter under consideration, up 18.6% from the prior-year period’s figure.

Truckload net revenues grew 25.8% year over year to $378.57 million. Additionally, net revenues at Less-than-Truckload improved 20.4% year over year to $122.62 million.

Net revenues at the Intermodal segment increased 11.8% year over year to $8.36 million.

Net revenues at the Ocean transportation segment declined 7.8% year over year to $74.84 million. The same at the Air transportation division rose 17.5% year over year to $29.99 million. Customs net revenues jumped 33.8% to $23.31 million.

Net revenues at Other logistics services climbed 5.4% year over year to $31.19 million.

Sourcing: Net revenues at the segment dropped 15.4% year over year to approximately $25.17 million.

Liquidity

This Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) company exited the third quarter with cash and cash equivalents of $297.8 million compared with $333.89 million at the end of 2017. Long-term debt was $1,341.3 million compared with $750 million at 2017 end. You can see the complete list of today's Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

2018 Outlook Intact

The company’s full-year effective tax rate projection remains unaltered at 24-25%. Additionally, it reiterates capital expenditures in the range of $60-$70 million for 2018 with the majority spending on technology.

Upcoming Releases

Investors interested in the broader Zacks Transportation sector are keenly awaiting third-quarter earnings reports from key players, namely Expeditors International of Washington, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXPD) , Triton International Limited (NYSE:TRTN) and Air Lease Corporation (NYSE:AL) . While Triton International will release third-quarter results on Nov 2, Expeditors and Air Lease will report the same on Nov 6 and Nov 8, respectively.

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