Old Dominion Freight Line reported $4 million in net income for the first quarter of 2008. Although that was down from $10.4 million during the same period last year, most of its competitors posted losses for the quarter.


As David Ross with Stifel Nicolaus Transportation Research notes, "Old Dominion reported impressive relative earnings in the face of the most difficult freight environment we have see. ODFL was the only public LTL carrier (of those reporting to date) to make an operating profit in 1Q09 (even including the LTL divisions of FedEx and UPS)."

Revenue for the quarter was $295.1 million compared with $368.2 million for the first quarter of 2008. Old Dominion's operating ratio was 96.6 percent for the first quarter of 2009 versus 94.3 percent for the first quarter of 2008.

"Industry conditions during the first quarter of 2009 continued to reflect the effects of the recessionary economic environment on freight demand, and pricing pressure was as severe as we have ever experienced," said Earl Congdon, executive chairman of Old Dominion. "Under these circumstances, however, we maintained our focus on pricing discipline, improved the efficiency of our operations and positioned the company to take advantage of growth opportunities following an economic recovery or meaningful industry consolidation. As a result of our efforts and despite the unprecedented operating environment, Old Dominion was able to minimize the effects of a 12.4 percent decline in tonnage and operate profitably for the quarter."

Congdon noted that even while improving efficiency and controlling variable costs, the company is taking advantage of industry consolidation to help it work toward long-term growth objectives. "We have continued to enhance and expand our service center network during the first quarter by opening two new service centers and relocating several others to larger facilities. We also continued to purchase new equipment, which contributed to total capital expenditures of $79 million for the quarter."