Covenant Transportation Group, Inc. announced earnings and operating results for the fourth quarter ended December 31, 2017. For the quarter, the company reported total revenue of $203.306 million compared to $190.978 million a year ago. Operating income was $14.482 million compared to $12.266 million a year ago. Income before income taxes was $13.625 million against $10.800 million a year ago. Net income was $49.298 million or $2.68 per diluted share against $5.982 million or $0.33 per basic and diluted share a year ago.


For the year, the company reported total revenue of $705.007 million compared to $670.651 million a year ago. Operating income was $28.155 million compared to $32.447 million a year ago. Income before income taxes was $23.297 million against $27.221 million a year ago. Net income was $55.439 million or $3.02 per diluted share against $16.835 million or $0.92 per diluted share a year ago. Tangible book value per basic share was $16.11 compared to $12.95 a year ago. Net capital expenditures were $62.1 million compared to $46.5 million for the prior year period.

For the quarter, the company reported average freight revenue per loaded mile of $2.081 compared to $2.027 a year ago. Average freight revenue per total mile was $1.883 compared to $1.823 a year ago. Average freight revenue per tractor per week was $4,234 compared to $4,280 a year ago.

For the year, the company reported average freight revenue per loaded mile of $1.890 compared to $1.859 a year ago. Average freight revenue per total mile was $1.702 compared to $1.666 a year ago. Average freight revenue per tractor per week was $3,917 compared to $3,881 a year ago.

For the year 2018, the company forecasting sequential operating income improvement throughout the year. In addition, the company expects earnings improvement from the estimated favorable effective tax rate impact from the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. The company is currently estimating 2018 effective income tax rate to be in the range of 24.0% to 27.0%. The company expects year-over-year average freight revenue per truck to be positive by a mid to high single digit percentage, inflecting more positively later in the year as a large portion of annual contractual rate revisions are implemented during the second quarter of 2018. Expectation of positive year-over-year pretax income includes higher employee wages for each quarter of 2018. The company also expects a decline in the operating income of non-asset based logistics service offering to partially offset the forecasted operating income improvement for truckload service offering. With net capital expenditures scheduled to be below normal replacement cycle, along with positive operating cash flows.