USX - Why Shares of U.S. Xpress Are Up (Again) Today
Shares of U.S. Xpress Enterprises (NYSE: USX) are rallying for a second straight day, up 9.3% as of 12:30 p.m. EDT, following the trucking company's second-quarter earnings report. The results came in much better than expected, causing the markets to rethink their outlook for the company.
After markets closed Tuesday, U.S. Xpress surprised Wall Street with a second-quarter profit of $0.18 on revenue of $422.5 million, easily outpacing analyst projections of a $0.13 per-share loss on revenue of $415 million.
Coming into earnings season, investors were worried transportation stocks would be hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic, which has disrupted industrial production and altered delivery patterns. But U.S. Xpress was able to grow operating income by 85% to $16.3 million for the quarter, in part by bringing down costs.