WERN - Werner stock dips as Cowen highlights near-term weakness for trucking

Werner Enterprises ( NASDAQ: WERN ) -3.41% led declines among major trucking names on Wednesday as Cowen analyst Jason Seidl warned about persistent headwinds hitting the industry.

The trucking company narrowly missed sales expectations in the first quarter. Management also highlighted “what remains an uncertain and more difficult operating environment” confronting the industry in 2023. Those results dovetailed with that Seidl sees as the macro pressures impacting the entire trucking industry in early 2023.

“4Q results were modestly soft so far this earnings season and near term weakness is

expected to persist into at least 1Q,” he told clients in a note. “Near-term freight softness and margin pressures are anticipated by some companies to give way to recovery in early Spring as restocking resumes.”

While he noted that the likes of Schneider National ( SNDR ), Knight-Swift Transportation ( KNX ), and Werner are likely to “prove more resilient to the choppy spell in freight markets” than many of their peers, Seidl nonetheless trimmed his expectations amid near-term pressure. As such, he cut his price target on Werner Enterprises ( WERN ) by $10 to $43 from a prior $53.

Read more Werner’s earnings results .

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