Yesterday, YRC Worldwide Inc. (YRCW) provided its first quarter 2010 update. The company expects to incur $108 million of non-cash compensation charge related to stock awards for its union employees.

YRC Worldwide also disclosed the quarterly preliminary shipment statistics for its segments – YRC National Transportation and YRC Regional Transportation. Total shipments per workday decreased both sequentially as well as year-over-year.

At YRC National, the total shipments per workday decreased to about 42,700 from 47,700 in the prior quarter and 64,310 in the year-ago period. For YRC Regional, shipment volumes decreased to 33,700 from 35,040 in the prior quarter and 38,780 reported a year earlier.

While the extension to the company’s note exchange impacted the shipment volumes in late December and early January, the severely wintry conditions in the first two months of this year added to its woes. Productivity and earnings felt the brunt.

However, the company has also said that it is experiencing an improvement in the operating trend and has become more confident about a positive EBITDA second quarter 2010 onwards.

YRC Worldwide, which competes with companies such as P.A.M. Transportation Services, Inc. (PTSI), Landstar System Inc. (LSTR) and Universal Truckload Services Inc. (UACL), has been severely impacted by the recession. The company is striving hard to increase shipment volumes and stringently managing its expenses.

YRC Worldwide expects to announce its quarterly results on May 4, 2010. Currently, the company is expected to report a loss of 48 cents in the first quarter according to the Zacks Consensus Estimate. However, following this announcement, we expect some revisions to this estimate in the next few days.

Usually, the first quarter and the fourth quarters are the weakest for trucking companies. Customers tend to reduce shipments just prior to and then after the winter holiday season. Additionally, the operating expenses as a percentage of revenue are likely to be higher in the winter months primarily due to colder weather.
Read the full analyst report on “YRCW”
Zacks Investment Research