Werner Enterprises, Inc. (NASDAQ:WERN) Q3 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

I still think there’s going to be conservatism in that reordering, because everybody’s waiting to see kind of how well the consumer holds up, especially through this peak season. But they feel that they’ve kind of solved the mix issue. That’s what gives us confidence specifically relative to our largest customer. I’m not going to speak to their strategy or what they will choose to do, but I can tell you we’re in detailed conversations. I can tell you we’re up sequentially from Q2 to Q3 with them in dedicated. And that we have conversations on the table right now for further expansion. So as their business grows, even as they grow their fleet, there’s opportunity for us to grow with them. And that’s going to be an ongoing discussion that will last – that will never really end.

I’m excited about some of their expansion plans, because it fits our network really well and it fits our capability set even better. So we’ll work with them and we’re excited to have that partnership. And it’s gained considerable white noise, I know, in these conversations, but inside the building, our confidence level is high relative to that relationship.

Ken Hoexter: Helpful setup. Appreciate your thoughts, Derek. Thank you.

Derek Leathers: Thank you.

Operator: This concludes our question-and-answer session. I would like to turn the conference back over to Derek Leathers for any closing remarks.

Derek Leathers: Yes, thanks. I wanted to thank everybody for joining us today. And while the quarter represented a further extension of what was already a challenging freight environment, we do believe that capacity right sizing is gaining momentum. And I’d like to reiterate that I also, and more importantly, think inventory levels are in line and inventory mix is getting closer to correct than it’s been in many quarters. Our customers continue to make those adjustments. We’re encouraged by their progress and we’re encouraged by the conversations we’ve had with them. We’re going to remain disciplined on price across our organization, while staying focused on the key components of our business dedicated logistics and the engineered components of cross border inside of our one way.

Our tech investments are maturing, as is our disciplined approach to lowering our cost to execute. There’s certainly work ahead of us. We’re committed to the work. And I thank you for spending time with us today.

Operator: The conference is now concluded. Thank you for attending today’s presentation. You may now disconnect.