ArcBest Q2 Earnings Beat Estimates, Revenues Rise Y/Y on Pricing Gains

On a GAAP basis, ArcBest incurred a loss of 62 cents per share compared with earnings of $1.12 a year ago. The loss primarily reflected impairment and restructuring charges associated with the company’s recently announced restructuring plan.

ARCB’s Segment Performance

Asset-Based revenues increased 9.9% year over year to $783.7 million. Tonnage per day improved 4.9%, driven by an 8% increase in weight per shipment, despite a 2.8% decline in shipments per day.

Billed revenue per shipment increased 12.5%, while billed revenue per hundredweight rose 4.2%. Excluding fuel surcharges, revenue per hundredweight was flat. Customer contract renewals and deferred pricing agreements averaged a 5.8% increase during the second quarter.

Asset-Based operating income advanced 45.5% to $74.3 million. The operating ratio improved 230 basis points to 90.5%. On an adjusted basis, operating income totaled $72.3 million and the operating ratio improved to 90.8% from 92.8% in the prior-year quarter.

Sequentially, Asset-Based daily revenues increased 17.8%, while the adjusted operating ratio improved 650 basis points. Pricing initiatives, higher fuel-surcharge revenues, cost optimization, network efficiency and technology-driven productivity supported the improvement.

Asset-Light revenues surged 28.3% year over year to $438.7 million. Shipments per day increased 14.6%, while revenue per shipment rose 12%. Higher managed volumes, fuel prices and a tightening capacity environment aided the segment’s top line.

Purchased transportation expense represented 86.5% of revenues compared with 84.4% a year ago. The segment incurred a GAAP operating loss of $31.3 million, largely because of impairment and restructuring charges. Adjusted operating income improved to $6.3 million from $1.1 million, while adjusted EBITDA rose to $7 million from $2.5 million.

ArcBest’s Cash Flow & Capital Allocation

ArcBest generated $138.3 million of operating cash flow during the first six months of 2026, up from $85 million in the year-ago period. The company spent $22.4 million on property, plant and equipment, net of financing.

ARCB returned $13.5 million to shareholders through $8.2 million of share repurchases and $5.4 million of dividends during the first half of 2026. It exited the quarter with cash and short-term investments of $168.4 million.

Management expects 2026 net capital expenditures between $140 million and $160 million. Preliminary July results were encouraging, with Asset-Based revenues per day rising 7% and Asset-Light revenues per day increasing 28% year over year.

Currently, ARCB sports a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

Q2 Performances of Other Transportation Companies

Westinghouse Air Brake Technologies WAB, operating as Wabtec Corporation, reported encouraging second-quarter 2026 results, wherein both earnings and revenues surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate and increased year over year.

Quarterly adjusted earnings of $2.76 per share beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $2.63 by 4.9% and increased 21.6% year over year, owing to higher sales and operating margin expansion.

Revenues climbed 17.5% to $3.18 billion and surpassed the consensus mark of $3.08 billion by 3.2%.

United Airlines Holdings, Inc. UAL reported second-quarter 2026 adjusted earnings of $1.99 per share, down 48.6% year over year but above the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $1.92 by 3.7%.

Operating revenues rose 16% to $17.67 billion and were essentially in line with the $17.68 billion consensus mark. A 12.1% increase in total revenues per available seat mile or TRASM, and broad-based gains across premium, loyalty and cargo revenues, supported the top line despite sharply higher fuel costs.

J.B. Hunt Transport Services, Inc. JBHT reported second-quarter 2026 earnings of $1.91 per share, up 45.8% from $1.31 a year ago. The figure beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $1.71 by 11.7%.

Operating revenues climbed 19.4% year over year to $3.50 billion and surpassed the consensus mark of $3.19 billion by 9.5%. Higher volumes and pricing across several businesses supported growth, led by a 10% increase in Intermodal loads.

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