Ryder System Lowers Third-Quarter Earnings Expectations

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JB Reed/Bloomberg News

Ryder System Inc. became the third publicly traded trucking industry company to lower third-quarter earnings expectations by announcing that its profits would be 10 cents per share to 13 cents per share below its earlier forecast.

Ryder, whose announcement follows lower-than-expected earnings at Swift Transportation Co. and Universal Truckload Services Inc., tied the results to lower- than-planned growth in the truck leasing unit known as Fleet Management Solutions.

Ryder, which will announce earnings Oct. 22, said its new earnings range was $1.72 per share to $1.74 per share, compared with a range of $1.82 to $1.87 previously.

Ryder, whose Supply Chains Solutions unit ranks No. 13 on the Transport Topics Top 100 list of the largest U.S. and Canadian for-hire carriers, also lowered its forecast for full-year earnings to a range of $6.17 per share to $6.29 per share from $6.45 to $6.55.



The revision is due to a temporary execution issue, related to record fleet growth, which the company expects to resolve during the fourth quarter, and less robust demand conditions in used vehicle sales,” the statement from Miami-based Ryder said.

The statement elaborated by saying that the number of out-of-service vehicles was higher than expected due to maintenance-related issues at the FMS unit. It also said used-truck sales fell 7% short of expectations in the quarter.