Old Dominion Freight Line Q4 Results Beat View; Hikes Dividend - Quick Facts

(RTTNews) - Old Dominion Freight Line Inc. (ODFL) on Thursday reported a surge in profit for the fourth quarter from last year on double-digit growth in revenues. The results for the quarter beat analysts' estimates. In addition, the company's board of directors increased the quarterly dividend by 30 percent.

The company's fourth-quarter net income was $197.25 million or $2.39 per share, up from $68.51 million or $0.83 per share in the prior-year quarter.

On average, fourteen analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected the company to earn $1.12 per share for the quarter. Analysts' estimates typically exclude special items.

Revenue for the quarter grew 19.5 percent to $891.12 million from $745.74 million in the year-ago period. Analysts had a consensus revenue estimate of $878.45 million.

The increase in revenues consisted of a 14.4 percent increase in LTL tonnage and a 5.1 percent increase in LTL revenue per hundredweight.

The company's board of directors has declared a first-quarter dividend of $0.13 per share, which is a 30 percent increase to the quarterly dividend paid in 2017. The dividend is payable on March 20, 2018 to shareholders of record at the close of business on March 6, 2018.

David Congdon, Vice Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Old Dominion said, "We believe that the ongoing execution of our business model, which includes a commitment to continuously invest in our employees and network capacity, will allow us to produce further profitable growth and increased shareholder value in 2018."