Carrier watch

Knight-Swift beats Q3 expectations: $0.83 a share on $2.2 billion in revenue as truckload pricing resets

The nation's largest truckload carrier posted adjusted earnings of $0.83 a share — $0.51 ahead of a year ago and $0.07 ahead of consensus — on revenue of $2.2 billion, up 14% year over year, with its truckload adjusted operating ratio improving 700 basis points to 89.2%.

By CDLWire · Published October 22, 2026

Summarized from FreightWaves.

A Knight-Swift semi truck and trailer on an interstate highway at dusk

Knight-Swift Transportation beat third-quarter expectations on Wednesday after the market closed, according to FreightWaves on Oct. 21.

The carrier reported adjusted earnings of $0.83 a share, $0.51 higher than the year-ago quarter and $0.07 better than the consensus estimate; management's own guidance range had been $0.71 to $0.77. Revenue of $2.2 billion was up 14% year over year — up 8% excluding fuel surcharges — and slightly ahead of the $2.17 billion analysts expected.

The truckload unit did the heavy lifting. Revenue excluding fuel rose 6.5% year over year, as an 11% increase in revenue per tractor was only partly offset by a 4% decline in average tractors in service. Loaded miles per tractor rose 1% — an eighth consecutive increase — deadhead fell 170 basis points to 12.1%, and revenue per loaded mile excluding fuel rose 10%, with the over-the-road service up by a mid-teen percentage. The unit's adjusted operating ratio was 89.2%, 700 basis points better than a year ago; U.S. Xpress operated at a low-90% adjusted operating ratio while the legacy brands ran at 88%.

Less-than-truckload was flatter: revenue excluding fuel rose less than 1%, tonnage rose 3%, revenue per hundredweight excluding fuel dipped 1%, and revenue per shipment excluding fuel rose 4% as weight per shipment rose 5% and length of haul rose 6%. Contractual renewals were up by a mid-single-digit percentage. The LTL unit's adjusted operating ratio was 91.4%, 80 basis points worse than a year ago.

Knight-Swift guided fourth-quarter adjusted earnings to $0.78 to $0.84 a share, bracketing the $0.82 consensus estimate. The third-quarter result was helped by a $22 million reduction in net interest expense, worth $0.10 a share, a lower tax rate worth $0.05 a share and a slight increase in gains on equipment sales worth $0.01 a share, partly offset by a $3.5 million year-over-year decline in other income. Shares rose 4.4% in after-hours trading on Wednesday. "Similar to our outlook last quarter, we expect momentum across our businesses to keep building as rates continue to be reset, as we maintain our cost and operational initiatives, and as we anticipate more seasonal spot and project opportunities than we have seen in recent years," CEO Adam Miller said in a news release.