Brokerages downgrade US truckload carriers as freight downturn continues

Werner Enterprises

09/07/2024 18:38

** Shares of U.S. truckload carriers Werner  WERN.O  and
Heartland Express  HTLD.O  fall 1.7% to $32.28 and 4.1% to
$11.7, respectively
    ** UBS downgrades Werner and Heartland Express to "hold"
from "buy" 
    ** JP Morgan also downgrades WERN and HTLD to "underweight"
from "neutral"
    ** "We believe a recovery in TL rates will be pushed out to
2026, which is counter to Consensus expectations of an upturn in
2025," UBS said
    ** UBS says it expects investors to look farther out to a
normalizing market which it believes will be in 2026
    ** "We believe several factors including the Red Sea
disruption and a potential East Coast port labor strike in
October are driving a pull forward of imports in 2024," it added
    ** 7 of 15 brokerages rate WERN "hold" and 5 "sell", while 4
of 6 brokerages rate HTLD "hold"; their median PT are $38 and
$12, respectively 
    ** YTD, WERN down 18.9%; HTLD down 17.3%

 (Reporting by Abhinav Parmar in Bengaluru)
 ((Abhinav.parmar@thomsonreuters.com))