Hub Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:HUBG) Q2 2023 Earnings Conference Call July 27, 2023 5:00 PM ET
Company Participants
Phil Yeager - President and Chief Executive Officer
Brian Alexander - Chief Operating Officer
Geoff DeMartino - Chief Financial Officer
Conference Call Participants
Bascome Majors - Susquehanna Financial Group
Justin Long - Stephens
Bruce Chan - Stifel
Scott Group - Wolfe Research
Thomas Wadewitz - UBS
Brian Ossenbeck - JPMorgan
Operator
Hello, and welcome to the Hub Group Second Quarter 2023 Earnings Conference Call. Phil Yeager, Hub's President and CEO; Brian Alexander, Hub's Chief Operating Officer; and Geoff DeMartino, Hub's CFO, are joining me on the call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. A brief question-and-answer session will follow the formal presentation [Operator instructions].
Any forward-looking statements made during the course of the call or contained in the release represent the Company's best good faith judgment as to what may happen in the future. Statements that are forward-looking can be identified by the use of words such as believe, expect, anticipate and project and variations of these words. Please review the cautionary statements in the release.
In addition, you should refer to the disclosures in the Company's Form 10-K and other SEC filings regarding factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected in these forward-looking statements. As a reminder, this conference is being recorded.
It is now my pleasure to turn the call over to your host, Phil Yeager. You may now begin.
Phil Yeager
Good afternoon. Thank you for joining Hub Group's second quarter earnings call. Joining me today are Brian Alexander, Hub Group's chief operating officer, and Geoff DeMartino, our chief financial officer. I wanted to start by thanking all of our Hub Group team members across North America for their resiliency during a rapidly evolving freight environment and their focus on providing excellent service to our customers.
The freight economy has been challenged this year, and that trend continued in the second quarter. Import volumes have been lower, driven by elevated inventories. And the industry is yet to exit surplus capacity.
This has in turn driven down rates to our customers and decreased spot market activity, putting pressure on our more transactional services. However, the consumer has remained strong and we believe restraint and growth related capital spending in the transportation industry and an increase in small carrier exits as well as normalized inventories are on the horizon, which will drive increased shipping demand as well as higher spot freight activity.