Heartland Express Profit Falls After a Strong Second Quarter

The Tip Desk · November 8, 2026 · 3 min read

Third-quarter net income was $1.0 million, or $0.01 a share, as the operating ratio slipped to 98.7% from 91.0%.

Heartland Express, Inc. (HTLD), the truckload carrier, reported third-quarter net income of $1.0 million, or $0.01 a share, down from $10.6 million, or $0.14 a share, in the second quarter.

The sequential drop followed the first-quarter net loss of $4.8 million. Operating revenue was $179.5 million.

The operating ratio moved to 98.7% from 91.0% in the second quarter, after improving from 101.9% in the first quarter. The non-GAAP adjusted operating ratio was 97.6%.

Against the year-ago third quarter, the carrier still posted a profit. Net income compared with an $8.3 million net loss, or a basic loss of $0.11 a share, a year earlier. The operating ratio improved 500 basis points from 103.7%.

Chief Executive Officer Mike Gerdin said the year-over-year improvement reflected stronger freight volumes and improved customer pricing from ongoing industry capacity reductions. He said the company does not expect the positive impacts of ongoing contract negotiations to be fully reflected in operating results until 2027.

Fuel was a material cost. Fuel expense was $43.2 million, compared with $34.1 million a year earlier. Fuel surcharge revenue was $32.7 million. Operating revenue excluding fuel surcharge was $146.8 million.

GAAP operating income was $2.3 million, versus a $7.3 million operating loss a year earlier. Adjusted operating income was $3.6 million.

Gerdin said operating expenses were significantly impacted by rising fuel costs throughout the quarter, along with inflationary impacts to maintenance, repairs, and other employee-related costs.

The company continued to pay down acquisition-related debt. It made $35 million of payments in the third quarter. Acquisition-related debt and finance lease obligations were $99.9 million at September 30, 2026, down from $135 million at June 30. Those obligations had been $494.1 million in 2022. Smith Transport debt and equipment leases were eliminated in the first three months of 2026.

Cash was $48.5 million at September 30, 2026, after rising from $44.5 million at March 31. Total assets were $1.1 billion. Stockholders’ equity was $754.1 million. There were no borrowings under the unsecured line of credit. Available borrowing capacity was $88.8 million after $11.2 million of outstanding letters of credit. The company said it continues to be in compliance with associated financial covenants.

The company purchased 183,371 shares for $2.2 million in the third quarter. Outstanding shares were 77.2 million. It has authorization to repurchase an additional 4.5 million shares. A regular dividend of $0.02 a share was declared in the third quarter and paid October 7, 2026.

Gerdin said the company expects to rely on positive cash flows from operations to invest in its fleet of tractors and trailers over the remainder of the year. For the remainder of 2026, the company currently expects total net capital expenditures of approximately $2 million to $5 million and $9 million to $13 million of total gains on disposal of property and equipment.