News Details

FORT SMITH, Ark.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- ArcBest^® (Nasdaq: ARCB), a leader in supply chain logistics, today announced financial results for the third quarter ended September 30, 2025.

Third quarter 2025 revenue totaled $1.0 billion, compared to $1.1 billion in the prior-year period. Net income from continuing operations was $39.3 million, or $1.72 per diluted share, versus $100.3 million, or $4.23 per diluted share, in the third quarter of 2024, which included a $69.1 million after-tax benefit from the reduction in the fair value of contingent consideration related to the MoLo acquisition. On a non-GAAP basis, net income was $33.4 million, or $1.46 per diluted share, compared to $38.8 million, or $1.64 per diluted share, in the prior year.

“ArcBest continues to deliver, even in this challenging freight environment,” said Judy R. McReynolds, ArcBest Chairman and CEO. “We achieved growth in LTL shipments and tonnage, and our Asset-Light segment delivered record shipment volumes and productivity. These results underscore the strength of our customer relationships and the value of our integrated solutions.”

Results of Operations Comparisons

Asset-Based

Third Quarter 2025 Versus Third Quarter 2024

• Revenue of $726.5 million compared to $709.7 million, a per-day increase of 1.6 percent
• Tonnage per day increase of 2.3 percent
• Shipments per day increase of 4.3 percent
• Billed revenue per hundredweight decrease of 1.1 percent
• Operating income of $70.2 million and an operating ratio of 90.3 percent, which includes $15.9 million of net gains on asset sales, compared to $64.0 million and an operating ratio of 91.0 percent
• Excluding asset gains, non-GAAP operating income of $54.4 million and an operating ratio of 92.5 percent, compared to $64.0 million and an operating ratio of 91.0 percent

Tonnage growth was driven by a 4.3 percent increase in daily shipments, primarily from newly onboarded core LTL customers. This was partially offset by a 1.9 percent decline in total weight per shipment. While new shipments were generally heavier, ongoing weakness in the manufacturing sector continues to pressure weight per shipment metrics, reducing revenue per shipment without corresponding cost decreases.

To support shipment growth, labor was added, and network capacity was supplemented with purchased transportation and local cartage during peak vacation season. Annual increases in contracted union labor rates, combined with higher purchased transportation spending and equipment depreciation, drove operating expenses higher. Despite these pressures, cost per shipment improved one percent year-over-year as a result of continued productivity gains. Cartage and purchased transportation costs normalized in September after elevated activity in July and August.

Customer contract renewals and deferred pricing agreements averaged a 4.5 percent increase during the quarter. Billed revenue per hundredweight, including and excluding fuel, decreased by 1.1 percent in the third quarter, compared to the third quarter of 2024. Price improvements were offset by a shift in freight profile. Overall, LTL industry pricing remains rational.

Compared sequentially to the second quarter of 2025, third quarter revenue and shipments per day were flat, while weight per shipment declined 3.9 percent, resulting in a 3.7 percent decrease in tonnage per day. Billed revenue per shipment decreased 0.6 percent as price improvements were offset by lower-weight shipments. Billed revenue per hundredweight increased 3.4 percent, reflecting the lower-weight shipments, combined with higher prices and fuel surcharges. Excluding fuel surcharges, revenue per hundredweight increased in the low single digits. The sequential non-GAAP operating ratio improved by 30 basis points.

Asset-Light

Third Quarter 2025 Versus Third Quarter 2024

• Revenue of $356.0 million compared to $385.3 million, a per-day decrease of 8.3 percent
• Operating loss of $1.6 million compared to operating income of $84.8 million, which included the $91.9 million pre-tax reduction in the fair value of contingent consideration related to the MoLo earnout
• On a non-GAAP basis, operating income of $1.6 million compared to operating loss of $3.9 million
• Adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (“Adjusted EBITDA”), as defined in the attached non-GAAP reconciliation tables, of $3.1 million compared to negative $2.1 million

Revenue decline was primarily due to lower revenue per shipment in a soft-rate environment and a higher mix of managed transportation business, which typically involves smaller, lower-revenue shipments. A 2.5 percent increase in shipments per day reflects continued growth in managed solutions, partially offset by a strategic reduction in less profitable truckload volumes.

Despite revenue declines, the Asset-Light segment delivered $1.6 million of non-GAAP operating income, supported by record volumes, improved margins and disciplined cost management. Productivity, measured by shipments per person per day, reached an all-time high during the quarter.

Compared sequentially to second quarter of 2025, daily revenue increased 3.3 percent, driven by a 10.1 percent increase in shipments per day. This increase was offset by a 6.2 percent decline in revenue per shipment, reflecting a higher proportion of smaller, lower-revenue managed solutions shipments. However, increased revenues combined with productivity gains contributed to improved financial performance.

Conference Call

ArcBest will host a conference call with company executives to discuss the quarterly results. The call will be today, Wednesday, November 5, 2025, at 9:30 a.m. ET (8:30 a.m. CT). Interested parties are invited to listen by calling (800) 715‑9871 or by joining the webcast which can be found on ArcBest’s website at arcb.com. Slides to accompany this call are included in Exhibit 99.3 of the Form 8-K filed on November 5, 2025, will be posted and available to download on the company’s website prior to the scheduled conference time, and will be included in the webcast. Following the call, a recorded playback will be available through the end of the day on November 19, 2025. To listen to the playback, dial (800) 770-2030. The conference call ID for the live conference call and the playback is 6423434. The conference call and playback can also be accessed through November 19, 2025, on ArcBest’s website at arcb.com.

About ArcBest

ArcBest^® (Nasdaq: ARCB) is a multibillion-dollar integrated logistics company that helps keep the global supply chain moving. Founded in 1923 and now with 14,000 employees across 250 campuses and service centers, the company is a logistics powerhouse, using its technology, expertise and scale to connect shippers with the solutions they need — from ground, air and ocean transportation to fully managed supply chains. ArcBest has a long history of innovation that is enriched by deep customer relationships. With a commitment to helping customers navigate supply chain challenges now and in the future, the company is developing ground-breaking technology like Vaux™, one of the TIME Best Inventions of 2023. For more information, visit arcb.com.

The following is a “safe harbor” statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995: Certain statements and information in this press release may constitute “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including, among others, statements regarding (i) our expectations about our intrinsic value or our prospects for growth and value creation and (ii) our financial outlook, position, strategies, goals, and expectations. Terms such as “anticipate,” “believe,” “could,” “designed,” “estimate,” “expect,” “forecast,” “foresee,” “intend,” “likely,” “may,” “plan,” “predict,” “project,” “scheduled,” “seek,” “should,” “would,” and similar expressions and the negatives of such terms are intended to identify forward-looking statements. These statements are based on management’s beliefs, assumptions, and expectations based on currently available information, are not guarantees of future performance, and involve certain risks and uncertainties (some of which are beyond our control). Although we believe that the expectations reflected in these forward-looking statements are reasonable as and when made, we cannot provide assurance that our expectations will prove to be correct and caution the reader not to place undue reliance on our forward-looking statements. Actual outcomes and results could materially differ from what is expressed, implied, or forecasted in these statements due to a number of factors, including, but not limited to: data privacy breaches, cybersecurity incidents, and/or failures of our information systems, including disruptions or failures of services essential to our operations or upon which our information technology platforms rely; interruption or failure of third-party software or information technology systems, including but not limited to licensed software; untimely or ineffective development and implementation of, or failure to realize the potential benefits associated with, new or enhanced technology or processes; the loss or reduction of business from large customers or an overall reduction in our customer base; the timing and performance of growth initiatives and the ability to manage our cost structure; the cost, integration, and performance of acquisitions and the inability to realize the anticipated benefits of the acquisition within the expected time period or at all; unsolicited takeover proposals, proxy contests, and other proposals or actions by activist investors; maintaining our corporate reputation and intellectual property rights; establishing and maintaining adequate internal controls over financial reporting; nationwide or global disruption in the supply chain resulting in increased volatility in freight volumes; competitive initiatives and pricing pressures; increased prices for and decreased availability of equipment, including new revenue equipment, and higher costs of equipment-related operating expenses such as maintenance, fuel, and related taxes; availability of fuel, the effect of volatility in fuel prices and the associated changes in fuel surcharges on securing increases in base freight rates, and the inability to collect fuel surcharges; relationships with employees, including unions, and our ability to attract, retain, and upskill employees; unfavorable terms of, or the inability to reach agreement on, future collective bargaining agreements or a workforce stoppage by our employees covered under ABF Freight’s collective bargaining agreement; union employee wages and benefits, including changes in required contributions to multiemployer plans; availability and cost of reliable third-party services; our ability to secure independent owner-operators and/or operational or regulatory issues related to our use of their services; litigation or claims asserted against us; the effects, costs and potential liabilities related to changes in and compliance with, or violation of, existing or future governmental laws and regulations, including, but not limited to, environmental laws and regulations, such as emissions-control regulations and fuel efficiency regulations; default on covenants of financing arrangements and the availability and terms of future financing arrangements; our ability to generate sufficient cash from operations to support significant ongoing capital expenditure requirements and other business initiatives; self-insurance claims, insurance premium costs, and loss of our ability to self-insure; potential impairment of long-lived assets and goodwill and intangible assets; the effects of a widespread outbreak of an illness or disease or any other public health crisis, as well as regulatory measures implemented in response to such events; external events which may adversely affect us or the third parties who provide services for us, for which our business continuity plans may not adequately prepare us, including, but not limited to, the occurrence of natural disasters, health epidemics, geopolitical conflicts, acts of war, cybersecurity incidents, or trade restrictions; general economic conditions and related shifts in market demand that impact the performance and needs of industries we serve and/or limit our customers’ access to adequate financial resources; seasonal fluctuations, adverse weather conditions, natural disasters, and climate change; and other financial, operational, and legal risks and uncertainties detailed from time to time in ArcBest Corporation’s public filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”).

For additional information regarding known material factors that could cause our actual results to differ from those expressed in these forward-looking statements, please see our filings with the SEC, including our Annual Report on Form 10-K, Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, and Current Reports on Form 8-K.

Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date hereof. We undertake no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements after the date they are made, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise.

Financial Data and Operating Statistics

The following tables show financial data and operating statistics on ArcBest^® and its reportable segments.

ARCBEST CORPORATION
CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF OPERATIONS

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CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEETS

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CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF CASH FLOWS

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FINANCIAL STATEMENT OPERATING SEGMENT DATA AND OPERATING RATIOS

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RECONCILIATIONS OF GAAP TO NON-GAAP FINANCIAL MEASURES

Non-GAAP Financial Measures

We report our financial results in accordance with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles (“GAAP”). However, management believes that certain non-GAAP performance measures and ratios utilized for internal analysis provide analysts, investors, and others the same information that we use internally for purposes of assessing our core operating performance and provides meaningful comparisons between current and prior period results, as well as important information regarding performance trends. Accordingly, non-GAAP results are presented on a continuing operations basis, excluding the discontinued operations of FleetNet, which sold on February 28, 2023. The use of certain non-GAAP measures improves comparability in analyzing our performance because it removes the impact of items from operating results that, in management's opinion, do not reflect our core operating performance. Other companies may calculate non-GAAP measures differently; therefore, our calculation may not be comparable to similarly titled measures of other companies. Certain information discussed in the scheduled conference call could be considered non-GAAP measures. Non-GAAP financial measures should be viewed in addition to, and not as an alternative for, our reported results. These financial measures should not be construed as better measurements than operating income, net income or earnings per share, as determined under GAAP.

ARCBEST CORPORATION
RECONCILIATIONS OF GAAP TO NON-GAAP FINANCIAL MEASURES – Continued