Werner Reports Strong Yields In 3Q

Piper Jaffray has published a research report on Werner Enterprises

following 3Q results that showed strong yield improvement in contrast to demand shortfall. In the report, Piper Jaffray writes "3Q10 EPS of $0.33 (25.8% y-o-y growth) was in line with our estimate and $0.01 above Consensus. Demand moderation and a higher percentage of shorter haul Dedicated moves y-o-y drove downside to total miles driven (down 1.0% y-o-y versus our 2.5% growth estimate), however this was offset by better yields (4.2% y-o-y growth above our 3.0% estimate). We see materially greater yields and improved utilization continuing to drive strong WERN earnings outperformance, despite the volume short fall. We expect WERN to continue to improve yields even with moderate near term demand. We believe a modest reacceleration in industry demand would likely drive strong yield upside above our estimates." Piper Jaffray maintains its Overweight rating and $28 price target. Werner Enterprises closed yesterday at $21.12.