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Old Dominion Freight Line, Inc. (ODFL), headquartered in Thomasville, North Carolina, is a top North American less-than-truckload (LTL) motor carrier. It operates an extensive network of service centers across the continental United States and partners strategically to expand its LTL services throughout North America. The company's current market cap stands at $41.3 billion, and it plans to release its Q2 earnings for fiscal 2024 before the market opens on Wednesday, Jul. 24, 2024.
Ahead of the event, analysts expect Old Dominion Freight Line to report a profit of $1.45 per share, up 9% from $1.33 per share in the year-ago quarter. The company has exceeded Wall Street’s EPS estimates in each of the last four quarters.
Old Dominion Freight Line's emphasis on operational excellence, strategic pricing, and customer-centric initiatives played a pivotal role in achieving a 3.9% year-over-year growth in EPS to $1.34 for the last reported quarter, marginally surpassing the consensus estimate.
Looking ahead, analysts expect Old Dominion Freight Line to report an EPS of $5.90 in fiscal 2024, up 4.8% from $5.63 in fiscal year 2023. Its fiscal 2025 EPS is projected to rise 16.8% annually to $6.89.
ODFL’s stock has rallied 1.8% over the past 52 weeks, underperforming the broader S&P 500 Index's ($SPX) 25.6% gains and the S&P 500 Industrial Sector SPDR’s (XLI) 14.2% returns over the same time frame.
ODFL's subdued price momentum mirrors persistent soft demand in the U.S. economy, prompting shipping customers to trim inventories amid economic uncertainty. Additionally, ODFL shares declined 11.1% on Apr. 24 following its Q1 earnings report release. While its revenue of $1.46 billion missed the consensus estimate of $1.47 billion largely due to lower freight volumes and shipments, the company exceeded bottom-line expectations.
However, the stock popped 2.1% on June 5 when the company announced strong May 2024 operating metrics, including a 5.6% increase in revenue per day compared to the previous year.
The current consensus opinion on Old Dominion Freight Line stock is “Moderate Buy” overall – a step up from the overall "Hold" rating from three months before. Among the 18 analysts covering the stock, five recommend a "Strong Buy," one suggests a "Moderate Buy," 11 advise a "Hold," and the remaining one analyst recommends a "Strong Sell."
Furthermore, the average analyst price target for Old Dominion Freight Line is $195.11, indicating a potential upside of 2.6% from the current price levels.
On the date of publication, Kritika Sarmah did not have (either directly or indirectly) positions in any of the securities mentioned in this article. All information and data in this article is solely for informational purposes. For more information please view the Barchart Disclosure Policy here.
