Triton (TRTN) Q4 Earnings Surpass Estimates, Increase Y/Y

Triton International Limited’s (NYSE:TRTN) fourth-quarter 2018 earnings per share (excluding 38 cents from non-recurring items) of $1.25 surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $1.14 and also improved significantly year over year.

Quarterly revenues of $355.4 million fell short of the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $359.6 million. However, the top line improved 13.2% year over year, primarily owing to 12.4% growth in revenues from operating leases.

The company generated a return on equity of 17.7% in the reported quarter as compared to 16.9% a year ago. However, total operating expenses increased 6% to $174.1 million.

Equipment trading revenues of $26.2 million surged more than 100% from the year-ago quarter. Trading margin in the quarter under review came in at approximately $6.1 million compared with $1.1 million in the year-ago period.

The company exited the fourth quarter with utilization of 98.2% on the back of impressive container pickup activity. Furthermore, the company rewarded investors to the tune of $2.01 per share in 2018 through dividends. Moreover, as of Feb 8, 2019, the company purchased 2.1 million shares under the share buyback plan cleared in August 2018. Additionally, Triton International ordered $1.5 billion of containers for delivery in 2018. Consequently, revenue earning assets increased 8.8% in the year.

Dividend

The company’s board has announced a quarterly cash dividend of 52 cents per share, payable Mar 28 to shareholders of record as of Mar 12.

Outlook

This Zacks Rank #4 (Sell) company expects adjusted net income for the first quarter of 2019 to decrease on a sequential basis. This is because of the sluggishness, pertaining to dry containers, in the first quarter. Moreover, the January-March period has the fewest number of billing days.

Adjusted income is anticipated to increase moderately for the rest of the year, driven by the sequential improvement in leasing demand.

You can see the complete list of today's Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

Upcoming Releases

Investors interested in the Zacks Transportation sector are keenly awaiting fourth-quarter 2018 earnings reports from key players like Air Lease Corporation (NYSE:AL) , Expeditors International of Washington (NASDAQ:EXPD) and LATAM Airlines (NYSE:LTM) . While Air Lease and Expeditors are scheduled to report fourth-quarter earnings on Feb 19 and Feb 21 respectively, LATAM Airlines will release the same on Mar 12.

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