What happened
Shares of YRC Worldwide (YELL 4.63%) stock are up a big 18.7% as of 10:50 AM EDT despite the interstate trucker reporting a big $0.44 per share loss for its fiscal first quarter 2018.
YRC, you see, had been expected to report a much bigger loss of $0.60 per share, so Wall Street is taking the $0.44 loss as good news today. Sales-wise, the company's $1.22 billion in Q1 revenue matched consensus estimates.
YRC stock is stepping on the gas and motoring today. Image source: Getty Images.
So what
YRC's sales grew a bit less than 4% year over year, and its losses per share were down about 44% from last year (when YRC had reported a $0.78 per share loss).
Demand for trucking was strong last quarter, with YRC reporting a "consolidated operating ratio" of 100.4. This is permitting YRC to charge premium rates for its services, with revenue per "hundredweight" up 6% year over year including fuel surcharges, and up 4.4% without those surcharges.
Now what
And the news could continue to be good for some time to come, with even the prospect of profits not out of the question. Management declined to give specific guidance for the rest of this year, but did allow that "the pricing and demand environment remains favorable," and "year-over-year financial improvement [will] be weighted to the second half of the year."
For what it's worth, Wall Street seems to agree. Consensus estimates call for YRC to earn $0.78 per share this year after losing $0.33 per share last year.
