Knight-Swift Trucking Stock Plunges to $48.53 in 2025 After Cutting Earnings Forecast

Important Highlights

• Knight-Swift shares dropped over 4% after the company lowered its earnings outlook for Q1 and Q2 2024 due to tough market conditions.
• The trucking sector remains oversupplied with capacity, making the full truckload market increasingly difficult.
• Knight-Swift faced stronger-than-expected downward pressure on freight rates and declined to reduce prices further, resulting in lost business volume.

In 2024, Knight-Swift Transportation Holdings (ticker: KNX) saw its stock decline to $48.53 as the company revised its earnings per share (EPS) guidance downward. The Q1 EPS forecast was cut to a range of 11 to 12 cents, down from the previous 37 to 41 cents estimate. This adjustment includes an 8-cent per share loss tied to the closure of its third-party insurance operations.

The company highlighted that the full truckload segment continues to face significant headwinds, including an oversupply of capacity that is pressuring freight rates beyond expectations. Some customers have pushed for lower rates, but Knight-Swift resisted further price cuts, deeming previous contract rates unsustainable, which led to lost contractual volumes. Additionally, unanticipated weather disruptions in January had a larger negative impact than initially predicted.

The firm also lowered its Q2 EPS guidance to between 26 and 30 cents, compared to an earlier forecast of 53 to 57 cents. Knight-Swift plans to release Q3 projections alongside its Q1 results scheduled for next Wednesday.

This development follows a similar earnings miss from competitor J.B. Hunt Transport (ticker: JBHT), which reported weaker revenue in its intermodal and truckload divisions and fewer freight brokerage loads. J.B. Hunt’s shares closed at $168.13, down 8.1%, while Knight-Swift shares fell 4.4% on the same day.

Since the start of 2024, Knight-Swift’s stock has declined approximately 15.5%, while J.B. Hunt’s stock has dropped about 14%, reflecting ongoing challenges in the U.S. trucking industry.

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