Werner's Adjusted Operating Income Nearly Doubles

The Tip Desk · November 8, 2026 · 5 min read

Truckload Transportation Services revenue reached $714.0 million as the company posted $21.0 million of non-GAAP adjusted operating income.

Werner Enterprises (WERN), a transportation and logistics provider, reported third-quarter total revenues of $950.5 million, up $179.0 million, or 23%, from a year earlier. Sequential year-over-year growth slowed from 24% in the second quarter.

The company swung to operating income of $17.0 million from an operating loss of $13.0 million a year earlier, lifting operating margin to 1.8% from (1.7)%. Non-GAAP adjusted operating income was $21.0 million, up $10.1 million, or 92%, and adjusted operating margin rose to 2.2% from 1.4%. GAAP operating income was little changed from the second quarter’s $16.9 million, while adjusted operating income fell from $27.6 million and adjusted operating margin compressed from 3.0%. The company said the increase in operating income is partially due to the non-recurrence of $21.4 million of litigation costs recorded in the prior year related to a class-action settlement.

Chairman and CEO Derek Leathers said rapidly rising fuel costs and elevated claims temporarily impacted near-term margins, while the company made a deliberate decision to accelerate investments in driver recruiting and onboarding. In an October 19 preliminary release, Werner said third-quarter results were negatively impacted by about $0.18 a share of cumulative cost headwinds versus the second quarter, primarily from rising fuel prices, driver recruitment and retention investments, and a late-quarter insurance reserve adjustment related to past claims.

Truckload Transportation Services revenues were $714.0 million, up $194.2 million, or 37%. Trucking revenues, net of fuel surcharge, increased $127.6 million, or 28%. Fuel surcharge revenues were $125.2 million. TTS operating income was $23.2 million versus an operating loss of $13.8 million a year earlier; TTS non-GAAP adjusted operating income was $24.3 million, up $15.4 million, or 172%. TTS operating margin was 3.3%, up 600 basis points from (2.7)%; TTS non-GAAP adjusted operating margin, net of fuel surcharge, was 4.1%, up 220 basis points from 1.9%. The company attributed the adjusted TTS increase to the addition of FirstFleet, lower insurance and claims expense excluding FirstFleet, and higher gains from sale of used equipment.

Average TTS trucks in service totaled 8,668, up 1,165 trucks, or 15.5%, year over year; quarter-end trucks were 8,740, up 1,295 trucks, or 17.4%. Dedicated average trucks in service were 6,995, up 2,130 trucks, or 43.8%, year over year and up 19 trucks sequentially; Dedicated quarter-end fleet was 7,090 trucks, or 81% of the TTS fleet, versus 4,965 trucks, or 67%, a year ago. Dedicated average revenues per truck per week, net of fuel surcharge, increased 5.6%.

One-Way Truckload average revenues per truck per week increased 34.3% year over year, on total miles per truck production gains of 22.4% plus rate improvement and spot-vs-contract mix changes. One-Way revenues per total mile, net of fuel surcharge, increased 9.7% year over year. One-Way average trucks in service were 1,673, down 36.6% year over year, and quarter-end trucks were 1,650, down 33.5%.

Werner Logistics revenues were $215.8 million, down $16.8 million, or 7%. The segment recorded an operating loss of $0.4 million versus $3.0 million of operating income a year earlier; non-GAAP adjusted operating income was $0.8 million, down $3.4 million, or 82%. Truckload Logistics revenues, 70% of Werner Logistics revenues, decreased $23.2 million, or 13%, on a 40% decrease in shipments, partially offset by a 44% increase in revenue per shipment. Intermodal revenues increased $2.4 million, or 7%. Final Mile revenues increased $4.1 million, or 18%, and increased 8% sequentially.

Net income attributable to Werner was $6.6 million versus a $20.6 million net loss a year earlier; diluted earnings per share were $0.11 versus a diluted loss of $0.34. Non-GAAP adjusted diluted earnings per share were $0.16 versus an adjusted diluted loss of $0.03. Cash flow from operations was $21.5 million, a 51% decrease from $44.1 million a year earlier. Net capital expenditures were $37.3 million. Gains on sales of property and equipment were $8.0 million, or $0.10 a share.

On October 5, 2026, Werner entered a new $1.1 billion unsecured credit facility, terminated the existing $1.075 billion facility, borrowed $465 million, and used $431.7 million to pay off the 2022 facility; remaining borrowing capacity was $603.1 million. For full-year 2026, the company narrowed TTS average truck count growth guidance to 16% to 17% from 16% to 18%, raised Dedicated RPTPW growth guidance to 4% to 5% from 3% to 5%, set One-Way Truckload RPTM growth guidance for the fourth quarter versus the year-ago quarter at 10% to 13%, cut net capital expenditures guidance to $190 million to $205 million from $215 million to $250 million, and lowered the GAAP tax-rate range to 24.5% to 25.5% from 25.5% to 26.5%.