- RBC Capital and Stephens both came out bearish on the transportation and trucking sector, with RBC analyst John Barnes calling his outlook the most difficult report he had written since the Great Recession, citing confusing signals on the economy and earnings growth that likely will be "uninspiring."
- Barnes downgraded Old Dominion Freight Line (NASDAQ:ODFL), Swift Transportation Company (SWFT), Ryder Systems (NYSE:R) and Rush Enterprises (NASDAQ:RUSHA) to Sector Perform from Outperform, and Heartland Express (NASDAQ:HTLD) to Underperform from Sector Perform.
- Stephens analyst Brad Delco cut near-term and longer-term estimates on less-than-truckload names, citing weaker demand trends and the higher fixed cost structure of LTL business models relative to truckload.
- Delco downgraded ArcBest (NASDAQ:ARCB) and Saia (NASDAQ:SAIA) to Equal Weight from Overweight as he favors truckload names over LTL in the current environment, but he maintained his Overweight rating on ODFL as he remains constructive on the best-in-breed name, which he believes can continue taking market share to offset broader market weakness.