Trucking holding company Covenant Transportation Group has announced it expects to report fourth quarter earnings well above the level from a year earlier due to a big gain in revenue.

The Tennessee-based parent to Covenant Transport and others expects it to be in the range of 70 cents to 78 cents per diluted share compared to 22 cents per diluted share in the fourth quarter of 2013.

For October and November the company said total revenue increased 11.1%, average freight revenue per total mile increased 10.9%, average miles per tractor per week increased 6.8%, and average freight revenue per tractor per week increased 18.4%, all compared with the same two months last year.

For the first nine days of December, it said year-over-year average freight revenue per tractor per week increased more than 20% on a preliminary basis.

In October and November CTG’s average seated truck count increased by approximately 35 trucks while the average number of tractors in the fleet was 2,620 compared to 2,731 a year earlier.

Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer, David R. Parker said while fuel prices have been declining during the quarter, approximately 27% of the company's expected fuel usage during the period is hedged at prices higher than the average fuel prices paid by the company.

“Accordingly, lower fuel prices are expected to have a limited impact on the company,” he said.