Rush Enterprises, Inc. (NASDAQ:RUSHA) Q3 2024 Earnings Conference Call October 30, 2024 10:00 AM ET

Company Participants

Rusty Rush - Chairman of the Board, Chief Executive Officer & President
Steve Keller - Chief Financial Officer

Conference Call Participants

Andrew Obin - Bank of America
Daniel Imbro - Stephens
Ian Zaffino - Oppenheimer
Avi Jaroslawicz - UBS

Operator

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by. Welcome to Rush Enterprises Inc. Reports Third Quarter 2024 Earnings Results. At this time, all participants are in a listen only mode. After the speakers presentation, there will be a question and answer session. [Operator Instructions] Please be advised that today's conference is being recorded.

I would like now to turn the conference over to your speaker today, Rusty Rush, Chairman of the Board, Chief Executive Officer and President. Sir, please go ahead.

Rusty Rush

Well, good morning, and welcome to our third quarter 2024 earnings release call. With me on the call are Jason Wilder, incoming Chief Operating Officer; Steve Keller, Chief Financial Officer; Jay Haselwood, Vice President and Controller; and Michael Goldstone, Senior Vice President, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary. Now Steve will say a few words regarding forward-looking statements.

Steve Keller

Certain statements we will make today are considered forward-looking statements as defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Because these statements include risks and uncertainties, our actual results may differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to those discussed in our annual report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2023 and in our other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Rusty Rush

Thanks for joining us this morning. I'm pleased to report that we had a solid third quarter. We announced revenues of $1.9 billion and net income of $79.1 million, which comes out to $0.97 per diluted share. In the third quarter of 2024, we incurred a onetime pretax charge of $3.3 million due to Hurricane Helene-related property damage. Excluding this charge, EPS would have been $1 per share. And once again, we are happy to declare a dividend -- cash dividend of $0.18 per share for both Class A and Class B common stock.

As we have experienced over recent quarters, the industry is still dealing with low freight rates and high interest rates, and these difficult operating conditions are keeping demand for Class 8 trucks on the low side. Given these headwinds, we are proud of our performance this quarter. While the over-the-road carrier segment faced some challenges, we saw good activity from Class 8 vocational and public sector customers.