First Look: Profitablity measures at C.H. Robinson point higher in 2Q

A first look at C.H. Robinson's earnings. (Photo: Shutterstock)

C.H. Robinson CEO Dave Bozeman (NASDAQ: CHRW), in releasing the company’s second quarter earnings, said it represented “six consecutive quarters of consistent outperformance through the disciplined execution of the strategy that we shared at our 2024 investor day.”

The revenue figure for the company was down, in part because of the divestiture of the company’s European Surface Transportation business, which housed the basic truck brokerage activities of the company. The decline was 7.7%.

The figure for gross profits was up 0.4% to $679.6 The adjusted operating margin was up 520 bps to 31.1%. That also marked a significant sequential jump from 26.3%.

Income from operations was up 21.2% year on year, to $215.9 million. In the first quarter, that figure was about $177 million.

C.H. Robinson continues to slash headcount. Total average employee headcount in the second quarter was 12,858, down 11.2% from a year earlier. In the first quarter, that number was 13,347.

The North American  Surface Transport sector, which contains its brokerage operations, saw its profitability rise even as it produced less revenue. Total revenue in NAST was down 2.4% for the quarter compared to the year earlier period. But adjusted gross profits rose 3% year-on-year, and income from operations were up 16.2%. 

Average headcount at NAST was 5,283, down from 5,868 a year earlier. It was actually up by 3 from the first quarter.

Adjusted net income of $1.29/share was up 12.2% from a year ago, and was 13 cts/share more than the consensus estimate, according to SeekingAlpha. Revenue of $4.14 billion was short of consensus estimate by $40 million. C.H. Robinson’s stock is up 9.3% in the last 52 weeks. 

Post-market trading was light but suggested a positive reaction to the report. C.H. Robinson closed the day at $97.65, with reports afterward of the stock price hitting the $100 mark.

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John Kingston

John has an almost 40-year career covering commodities, most of the time at S&P Global Platts. He created the Dated Brent benchmark, now the world’s most important crude oil marker. He was Director of Oil, Director of News, the editor in chief of Platts Oilgram News and the “talking head” for Platts on numerous media outlets, including CNBC, Fox Business and Canada’s BNN. He covered metals before joining Platts and then spent a year running Platts’ metals business as well. He was awarded the International Association of Energy Economics Award for Excellence in Written Journalism in 2015. In 2010, he won two Corporate Achievement Awards from McGraw-Hill, an extremely rare accomplishment, one for steering coverage of the BP Deepwater Horizon disaster and the other for the launch of a public affairs television show, Platts Energy Week.