Old Dominion Freight Line (NASDAQ: ODFL) reported Q1 EPS of $1.11, $0.01 worse than the analyst estimate of $1.12. Revenue for the quarter came in at $987.36 million versus the consensus estimate of $983.08 million.

“Old Dominion produced solid financial results in the first quarter of 2020, which included a new first-quarter Company record for our operating ratio,” said Greg C. Gantt, President and Chief Executive Officer of Old Dominion. “We were pleased to improve our operating ratio and increase earnings per diluted share despite the slight decrease in revenue. While revenue was lower, our results for most of the first quarter were in line with the expectations we had at the beginning of 2020. Demand for our services declined in the last half of March, however, due to the widespread effects of the COVID‑19 pandemic on the domestic economy.

“The decrease in revenue in the first quarter was due to a 3.9% decrease in LTL tons per day that was partially offset by a 2.6% increase in LTL revenue per hundredweight. Excluding fuel surcharges, LTL revenue per hundredweight increased 3.3% over the same period of the prior year. The decrease in LTL tons per day reflects a 5.1% decrease in LTL shipments per day that was partially offset by a 1.3% increase in LTL weight per shipment. As the domestic economy changed in the last half of March, so did our mix of business. We experienced a significant increase in our average weight per shipment and this trend has also continued into April. While this helped offset the decline in shipments per day, an increase in average weight per shipment generally has the effect of reducing revenue per hundredweight. Our revenue per hundredweight trends may continue to be affected by changes in our business mix, but they do not indicate a change in our pricing philosophy. We intend to maintain our long-term and consistent approach to pricing, as we believe our disciplined approach has been one of the key elements in improving profitability and continues to support our long-term growth initiatives.

“Our operating ratio improved 60 basis points to 81.4% from 82.0% for the first quarter of 2019 despite the decrease in revenue and extra expense related to the special employee bonus payments made in March 2020. While a decrease in revenue generally has a deleveraging effect on our operating costs, the quality of our revenue and increased operating efficiencies allowed us to improve our direct operating costs as a percent of revenue. This improvement more than offset the slight deterioration in our overhead costs as a percent of revenue.

“As the economy declined due to the unprecedented stay-at-home and similar orders issued throughout the country, we have quickly adapted to the decrease in our business levels. We are also well positioned to respond to increases in customer demand that may occur once these orders are terminated or become less restrictive. Regardless of the economic environment, we will continue to focus on managing our variable costs while also diligently controlling discretionary spending. Rest assured, however, that our focus will remain on the long-term potential of our business to help ensure that we have all elements of capacity available to support our customers when their business levels return to normal.”

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