Old Dominion Freight Line (NASDAQ: ODFL) reported Q3 EPS of $2.12, $0.17 better than the analyst estimate of $1.95. Revenue for the quarter came in at $1.06 billion versus the consensus estimate of $1.05 billion.

“Old Dominion Freight Line’s third quarter represents another period of substantial growth with results that included many new Company records,” remarked Greg C. Gantt, the Company’s President and Chief Executive Officer. “We continued to benefit from the strong domestic economy and available capacity within our service center network, which supported our ability to win market share during the quarter. Revenue increased at a rate above 20% for the third straight quarter, and the combination of quality revenue growth and ongoing cost control measures allowed us to improve our operating ratio to a new Company record of 78.4%.

“The 21.2% growth in revenue over the same period of last year included a 12.5% increase in LTL revenue per hundredweight and an 8.1% increase in LTL tons. The increase in LTL tons resulted from an increase in LTL shipments of 9.7% that was partially offset by a 1.4% decrease in LTL weight per shipment. While a decrease in weight per shipment can be an indicator of a slowing economy, we believe this decrease was primarily due to operational changes we made at the end of the second quarter that were designed to reduce the number of heavy-weighted shipments in our network. The decrease in LTL weight per shipment, as well as a 0.1% increase in length of haul, contributed to the improvement in our reported yield. LTL revenue per hundredweight, excluding fuel surcharges, grew 9.0% for the third quarter, as we also continued our focus on yield-improvement initiatives designed to improve individual account profitability.

“We improved most of our cost categories as a percent of revenue during the third quarter, although operating supplies and expenses increased 90 basis points due primarily to the rising cost of diesel fuel. Salaries, wages and benefits improved to 50.7% of revenue as compared to 52.9% for the third quarter of last year despite a 16.2% increase in average full-time employees. We believe the size of our current workforce is generally appropriate and do not anticipate any major changes to our headcount during the fourth quarter. Income tax expense for the third quarter benefited from certain discrete tax adjustments as well as a slight decrease in our annual effective tax rate.”

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