Swift says it expects fuel costs to reduce first-quarter profit

Transport Topics, April, 2003 by Anonymous

Swift Transportation Co., a national truckload carrier, said firstquarter profit would probably be lower than analysts had expected because of higher fuel costs.

Earnings per share for the quarter ending March 31 would be between 7 and 11 cents a share, the company said in a March 28 statement.

Swift's estimate is less than the average forecast of 15 cents a share based on a Thomson Financial survey of 13 analysts.

Swift, which earned 11 cents a share in the first quarter of 2002, said its average cost of fuel was 45 cents a gallon higher during this first quarter than a year ago. That, combined with bad weather, probably cut earnings by 8 cents a share, it said.

Fuel prices have surged in 2003 on concern that the war in Iraq could disrupt supplies and as...

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