Knight Transportation Lifts Earnings Guidance

(RTTNews) - Knight Transportation, Inc. (KNX), a company that operates as a short to medium-haul truckload carrier of general commodities, Tuesday said it has raised its earnings guidance for the fourth quarter of 2013, as well as the first quarter 2014.

Knight Transportation now expects earnings of $0.24 - $0.25 for the fourth quarter, compared with its earlier projection of $0.20 - $0.23. For the first quarter, the company now expects earnings to be $0.19 - $0.21 versus the previous guidance range of $0.18 - $0.20.

On average, 21 analysts polled by Thomson-Reuters estimate the company's earnings to be $0.21 for the fourth quarter. Analysts' estimates typically exclude one-time items. The average earnings estimate for the first quarter is $0.19 per share.

"Our improvement in results for the fourth quarter of 2013 was a result of better than expected performance in several key areas of our business. We experienced improvement in our revenue per tractor, growth in our non-asset based businesses, and more effective cost management," said the company in a statement today.

Knight Transportation is scheduled to release fourth-quarter earnings results on January 29.