: XPO Logistics forecasts lowest quarterly sales since 2015

XPO Logistics Inc. XPO a trucking-transportation and brokerage service, announced Monday that executives now expect third-quarter sales of around $3.04 billion, which would be the company’s lowest quarterly revenue since 2015, according to FactSet data. Shares fell 2% after hours. The forecast was a bit below FactSet expectations for $3.09 billion, and comes as Wall Street tries to assess the state of trucking rates and demand after last year’s supply-chain backups and this year’s concerns about inflation. Executives said they expected operating income of $181 million to $185 million for the third quarter, for which full results are due on Oct. 31. On Nov. 1, XPO also plans to spin off its North American truck brokerage unit, which links customers with trucks to haul goods, from its less-than-truckload operations, which are smaller shipments that don’t occupy a whole trailer. In its North American less-than-truckload segment, XPO forecast third-quarter revenue growth per hundredweight, excluding fuel, of approximately 7% when compared to the prior-year period, as well as a roughly 2.9% dip in weight per day. However, XPO said the latter figure improved each month during the quarter and was “inflecting positive” in September. For XPO’s truck brokerage business, the company forecast a roughly 9% year-over-year increase in volume for the third quarter, and a 2% decrease in sales. XPO said it expected compound annual sales growth in the less-than-truckload segment of 6% to 8% from 2021 through 2027.

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