USA Truck managed to turn a profit during the second quarter, with a net income of $0.9 million, compared to a net loss of $1.1 million for the 2009 quarter.
The company attributes the gain to an improvement in the operating environment and the company's Vision for Economic Value Added long-term strategic plan.

The Van Buren, Ark.-based truckload carrier said earnings were 9 cents a share, compared to a loss per share of 11 cents for the 2009 quarter. Revenue was $94.9 million for the second quarter, a 16.8 percent boost from $81.2 million for 2009.

"We made solid year-over-year progress this quarter and dramatically improved our performance sequentially from the first quarter this year," said Clifton R. Beckham, president and CEO. "Through disciplined execution of our long-term strategic plan, VEVA (Vision for Economic Value Added), and aided by an improving operating environment and the sale of a fuel contract, we achieved our near-term goal of returning to profitability by the second quarter 2010."

For the rest of 2010, USA Truck plans to improve tractor utilization, reduce maintenance costs, increase its freight network yield, and continue growing its asset-light business.

"These priorities reflect our outlook for industry conditions, which are presently characterized by a considerable shortage of capacity," Beckham said. "This tight capacity environment has been growing steadily tighter since mid-February when we believe freight demand experienced a systemic improvement as businesses began to restock inventory in response to unsustainably low inventory levels. However, stubbornly low inventory-to-sales ratios suggest that such buying is merely replenishing sales and not rebuilding inventory levels. So, although we do not describe today's freight volumes as robust, they are substantially better than 2009 levels."