Covenant Transportation (CVTI) Boosts Q1 EPS Outlook

Covenant Transportation (NASDAQ: CVTI) its updated expectations regarding financial results for the first quarter of 2015.

Financial and Operating Results

Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer, David R. Parker, offered the following comments: "The Company has experienced year-over-year improvements in its operating results for the two months ended February 28, 2015, and these improvements have continued into March. For the first quarter to date, the Company has experienced the following:

• Demand has trended solidly above demand in the first quarter of 2014. For the two months ended February 28, 2015, freight revenue increased 11.6%, average freight revenue per total mile increased 5.1%, average miles per tractor per week increased 6.0%, and average freight revenue per tractor per week increased 11.4%, in each case compared with the two months ended February 28, 2014. For the first few days of March, year-over-year average freight revenue per tractor per week has increased approximately consistent with the first two months of the quarter on a preliminary basis and before month-end adjustments.
• Average seated truck count has increased sequentially by approximately 70 trucks for the two months ended February 28, 2015, compared with our average seated truck count for fourth quarter of 2014. The average number of tractors in the fleet was 2,704 for the two months ended February 28, 2015 versus 2,663 for the two months ended February 28, 2014.

Primarily as a result of the trends mentioned above, we expect to report consolidated earnings for the first quarter of 2015 in a range of $0.24 to $0.30 per diluted share, on approximately 18.4 million weighted average shares. These expected results compare to a reported consolidated loss per diluted share for the first quarter of 2014 of ($0.09), on 14.9 million weighted average shares. The difference in share count is primarily attributable to our public offering of 3,036,000 Class A common shares in November 2014.

*** The Street sees Q1 EPS of $0.15 and revenue of $165 million.

Our outlook for the remainder of fiscal 2015 is increasingly more favorable. However we continue to be cautious of our ability to achieve year-over-year improvements in the fourth quarter of the year depending on the level of involvement of our asset-based and Solutions subsidiaries in the supply chains of our LTL, parcel, and omni-channel shipping customers during the peak freight season."

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