Covenant Transportation Group Announces Expectations Concerning Q4Financial Results

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn., Jan. 14, 2014 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Covenant Transportation Group, Inc.

announced today its expectations regarding financial results for the fourth quarter of 2013. Financial and Operating Results Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer, David R. Parker, offered the following comments: "For the fourth quarter of 2013, we expect to report consolidated net income in a range of $0.18 to $0.22 per diluted share. These expected results compare to reported consolidated net income of $0.10 per diluted share for the fourth quarter of 2012. "The expected improvement in earnings per diluted share relates primarily to higher freight revenue per tractor (excluding fuel surcharge revenue) in our asset-based business, significant improvement in revenue and margins in our non-asset based Covenant Transport Solutions business, and lower costs of fuel (net of fuel surcharge recovery). The first two months of the quarter were solid but not unusual. During December, we experienced a significant increase in demand, particularly in our expedited team-driver operations, which supported higher than expected freight revenue per mile (excluding fuel surcharge revenue) and miles per tractor. We believe the December activity was unusual and related, at least in part, to the compressed period of time between Thanksgiving and Christmas, holiday shopping trends toward