Knight-Swift Transportation Holdings Inc. (NYSE:KNX) Q4 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

Chris Wetherbee : Good afternoon. Maybe along a similar line, as you think about non-reportable ex insurance, so if we kind of put that aside for the time being, can you sort of remind us how we should think about the cadence of that business as we go over the course of the year? I know there’s often there has been historically some seasonal work in there, but just give us a sense of what we should be thinking from a baseline perspective because we’ve had insurance in there on a look-back period.

Adam Miller: Yes. So if you exclude insurance, sometimes it depends on some seasonal projects, Chris. So we’ve got a warehousing business that slows in Q4. And so you’ll see a seasonal decline there, but it does ramp up in Q1 and is typically strong through the remainder of the year. Sometimes we do a trailer leasing project in Q4, if you’re absent of that, then you see — you don’t see a lift there. Sometimes you can see a lift there. So there’s kind of sometimes depends on what activity you see there. I think once you get into Q1, it’s relatively stable until you hit Q4, which you could see a drop or it could be stable. I hope that answers to your question.

Chris Wetherbee : It is from a seasonal perspective and maybe any sense around magnitude if we can maybe look back at ’23 and think about what the numbers actually look like. There’s just some noise in there. So just trying to get a sense of level setting what the earnings power of non-reportable might be going forward.

Adam Miller: Yes. So I think if you look at ‘23 and you pull out the insurance numbers, I mean that probably a decent idea of how that flows from a seasonality standpoint.

Chris Wetherbee : Okay. All right. That’s helpful. And then maybe just 1 on US Ex. You guys have talked about that and obviously some improvement there turning profitable. I guess as you think about where you are relative to the guidance you had given us when you closed the transaction in terms of the potential accretion from the dollar of earnings. I guess where are you in that process? Do you feel like you’re on schedule, ahead of schedule, behind? Just kind of get a sense because obviously, the market has moved around a little bit, too.

Adam Miller: So Chris, you’re breaking the rule of 1 question, right? But since it’s late in the game I’ll answer this quickly, right? So I’d say, hey, we’re ahead of schedule, especially on the cost side of the business, and we’re encouraged with the fact that we’ve been able to make some progress on rate and sequential progress on rates from third to fourth without the help of the market. And so we feel well positioned that when the market does turn, that we’ll be able to close the gap between a historic Knight-Swift OR to US Xpress OR and certainly would be in line to achieve the dollar EPS accretion that we’re targeting.

Chris Wetherbee : Appreciate the leniency. Thank you very much.

Adam Miller: All right. This will probably be our last question here.

Operator: And your next question comes from the line of Scott Group from Wolfe Research. Please go ahead.

Scott Group : Thanks for squeezing me in. So I know the last two questions have just touched on this, but can you just maybe clarify for all of us. What was the total number of insurance losses in ’23?

David Jackson: Yes, I don’t have that right on me. It’s a little bit skewed because it’s a little apples to oranges when you look at some of what went into the $71 million versus expenses or losses that we had in the other 3 quarters. But…

Adam Miller: Yes. So Scott, it’s about $125 million is where we ended for 2023.

David Jackson: And that’s going to include some extra thing, extra cost to prepare us here as we exit the business.

Scott Group: Perfect. Super helpful. Okay. And then can I just — I want to just try and understand the guidance a little bit better. So Q4 underlying $0.39, you’re sort of telling us Q1 $0.39. I don’t know that, that’s ever happened where it doesn’t go down. And then Q1 to Q2 has got a decent — probably a better than normal step up. And it doesn’t sound like you guys are counting on things to get a whole lot better yet. So I’m — just trying to understand what’s driving the much better than normal sequential if we’re not counting on better than normal sort of demand or pricing yet?