Forward Air Corporation (NASDAQ:FWRD) Q2 2023 Earnings Conference Call August 3, 2023 9:00 AM ET

Company Participants

Thomas Schmitt - President, CEO & Chairman

Rebecca Garbrick - CFO & Treasurer

Conference Call Participants

Jack Atkins - Stephens Inc.

Scott Group - Wolfe Research

Bascome Majors - Susquehanna

Stephanie Moore - Jefferies

Andrew Cox - Stifel

Christopher Kuhn - the Benchmark Company

Operator

Thank you for joining Forward Air Corporation’s Second Quarter 2023 Earnings Release Conference Call. Before we begin, I’d like to point out that both the press release and webcast presentation for this call are accessible on the Investor Relations section of Forward Air’s website at www.forwardaircorp.com.

With us this morning our CEO Thomas Schmitt; and CFO, Rebecca Garbrick. By now, you should have received the press release announcing our second quarter 2023 results, which was furnished to the SEC on Form 8-K and on the wire yesterday after the market close.

Please be aware that certain statements in the company’s earnings press release announcement and on this conference call are forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Legislation Reform Act of 1995, including statements, which are based on expectations, intentions and projections regarding the company’s future performance, anticipated events or trends and other matters that are not historical facts, including regarding our expected third quarter 2023 and fiscal year 2023. These statements are not a guarantee of future performance and are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. For additional information concerning these risks and factors, please refer to our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, and the press release and webcast presentation relating to this earnings call. The company undertakes no obligation to update any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

During the call, there may also be a discussion of financial metrics that do not conform to U.S. Generally Accepted Accounting Principles, or GAAP. Definitions and reconciliations of these non-GAAP measures to their most directly comparable GAAP measures are included in the press release issued which is available in the Investors tab of our website.

And now I’ll turn the call over to Thomas Schmitt, CEO of Forward Air.

Thomas Schmitt

Thank you, John, and good morning to all of you on the call. Let me lead off with five points before opening it up for questions and comments. The first point, we just finished the third disappointing quarter in a row. It’s been a very tricky freight recession for our team and our customers, and it came in phases. We have seen the worse in our main show the LTL business in the fourth quarter of last year and also in the first quarter of this year.