Company Overview
Werner Enterprises, Inc. engages in the transportation of truckload shipments for general commodities across interstate and intrastate commerce within the United States, as well as in Mexico, Canada, and international markets. The company operates a fleet of medium-to-long-haul vans designed to transport various goods, positioning it within the broader Industrials sector and specifically the Trucking industry. This sector classification indicates that the company's primary revenue drivers are linked to the movement of goods and logistics services, which are sensitive to economic cycles and freight demand fluctuations. As of the latest available data, the company holds a market capitalization of $1.73B and generated annual revenue of $2.97B, supported by an employee base of 12,031 individuals. The market cap figure suggests a mid-cap status that reflects its established position in the logistics landscape, while the revenue scale demonstrates significant operational breadth and the capacity to handle substantial volumes of freight across multiple geographic regions.
Financial Health
The company reported a trailing twelve-month revenue of $2.97B, yet posted a net income of $-14,399,000, while maintaining an EBITDA of $338.41M. The substantial gap between the positive EBITDA and the negative net income reveals a significant impact from non-operating expenses, likely driven by the high interest costs associated with the company's debt obligations or significant tax provisions that erode bottom-line profitability. Werner Enterprises generated a free cash flow of $-17,845,000, which indicates that current operations are consuming cash rather than generating surplus liquidity for reinvestment or debt repayment in the trailing period. This negative cash flow position limits the company's immediate financial flexibility to fund capital expenditures or acquisitions without accessing external capital markets or drawing down cash reserves. The company maintains a cash balance of $59.92M against total debt of $793.92M, resulting in a debt-to-equity ratio of 57.08, which characterizes the balance sheet as heavily leveraged rather than conservative. Despite the leverage, the current ratio stands at 1.95, indicating that the company possesses strong short-term liquidity to cover its current liabilities with current assets. Return on Equity is recorded at -1.6% and Return on Assets at 1.1%, metrics that collectively reveal that management is currently generating returns that are insufficient to cover the cost of equity capital and are barely covering asset deployment costs given the negative earnings environment.
Valuation Assessment
The valuation metrics present a distinct divergence between historical and forward-looking expectations, with a trailing P/E ratio of N/A and a forward P/E of 16.59. The absence of a trailing P/E confirms that the stock has negative earnings over the past year, while the forward P/E suggests that analysts project a return to profitability within the next fiscal period. The price-to-book ratio is 1.27, which indicates that the market values the company at a slight premium above its tangible book value, potentially reflecting assets such as the trucking fleet that are not fully captured on the balance sheet or expectations of future earnings recovery. Alternative valuation metrics show a price-to-sales ratio of 0.58 and an EV/EBITDA of 7.31, suggesting that the market is pricing the company based on its revenue generation and operational cash flow capabilities rather than current earnings multiple. The stock has traded between a 52-week low of $23.02 and a 52-week high of $38.45, and without a specific current price provided in the facts, the valuation range establishes the volatility bounds within which the stock has moved over the past year. The beta value is 1.04, which implies that the stock's price volatility is slightly higher than the broader market, moving 4% more than the market index on average during periods of market fluctuation.
Growth & Income
Revenue growth for the trailing twelve months is recorded at -2.3%, while earnings growth is listed as N/A due to the negative net income. The negative revenue growth indicates a contraction in top-line activity, and the lack of earnings growth data is a direct consequence of the company's current loss position rather than a divergence in growth rates. The company pays a dividend with a yield of 2.0%, but the payout ratio is 136.6%, which indicates that the dividend is being funded from cash flows or reserves rather than current earnings. This high payout ratio suggests that the dividend may not be sustainable under current profitability levels and could be at risk if the company continues to operate at a net loss or if free cash flow remains negative. Consequently, the overall growth and income profile is currently defined by revenue contraction and a dividend yield that exceeds the company's ability to pay from its reported earnings, highlighting a reliance on balance sheet liquidity to maintain shareholder returns.