Landstar Posts Q1 Revenue of $1.15B After Fraud-Related Delay
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Landstar System reported its first-quarter earnings following a two-week delay caused by a supply chain fraud incident, the company said May 13.
The Jacksonville, Fla.-based motor carrier posted net income of $29.8 million, or 85 cents a diluted share, for the three months ending March 31. That compared with $47.1 million, $1.32, during the same time the previous year. Total revenue decreased 1.6% to $1.15 billion from $1.17 billion.
Landstar had originally scheduled its earnings release for April 29 but delayed it because the company identified a fraud issue. The delay was mostly related to an ongoing evaluation of certain accounting and internal control matters in connection with the fraud. Also, the company noted that the fraud was related to international freight forwarding operations.
“This fraud matter does not involve our core North American truckload services,” Landstar CEO Frank Lonegro said during a call with investors. “While investigation, remediation and collection efforts continue, the 2025 first-quarter results included a $4.8 million pretax charge, or 10 cents per share, relating to this matter. This charge reflects the total, currently anticipated, adverse financial impact to Landstar relating to this fraud.”
As for the results themselves, Landstar, like other trucking companies, had to endure the ongoing freight recession and strained global financial environment.
“The 2025 first quarter presented a unique set of macroeconomic challenges with the inauguration of a new president and the uncertainties associated with aggressive U.S. trade and tariff policies,” Lonegro said. “We continue to monitor the impact of tariffs and other federal trade policies on international trade relationships between the United States and many countries throughout the world.”
Lonegro added that this most notably applies to China, Mexico and Canada. He pointed out that about 11% of Landstar’s consolidated revenue during fiscal 2024 came from U.S.-Mexico cross-border operations and that approximately 4% of consolidated revenue came from U.S.-Canada cross-border operations.
MORE: Inflation Slows, but Economists Say Tariff Impacts to Come
“Amidst ongoing challenges in the freight environment, compounded by a highly volatile federal trade policy, the 2025 first quarter included several important positive developments for Landstar,” Lonegro said. “The number of loads hauled via truck exceeded the high end of our guidance issued in connection with our fourth-quarter 2024 earnings release on January 29th, 2025. This was the first time in at least 15 years where the number of loads hauled via truck in the first quarter exceeded the immediately preceding fourth quarter.” Still, the number of loads declined 1.2% compared with the 2024 first quarter. Truck revenue per load decreased 0.6%, which was below the midpoint of the guidance range.
“Although it is hard to determine how much of our first-quarter load count was related to efforts by shippers to get ahead of tariffs, we certainly saw this as a positive sign to start 2025,” Lonegro said. “Notwithstanding the political and macro uncertainty thus far in 2025, our focus continues to be on accelerating our business model and executing on our strategic growth initiatives.”
The results were mixed based on the expectations of investment analysts on Wall Street, who had been looking for 92 cents per share and quarterly revenue of $1.13 billion, according to Zacks Consensus Estimate.
Truck transportation revenue hauled by independent business capacity owners and truck brokerage carriers decreased 1.8% to $1.05 billion from $1.07 billion. The segment includes loads hauled by van equipment, unsided/platform equipment and less-than-truckload operations.
- Van equipment revenue decreased 5.3% to $595 million from $628 million.
- Unsided/platform equipment decreased 0.9% to $340 million from $343 million.
- Other truck transportation revenue, which is largely related to power-only services, increased 27.8% to $92 million from $72 million.
“The foundational work we invested in during 2024 puts us in a great position to leverage the freight environment when it eventually turns our way,” Lonegro said. “The freight environment in the 2025 first quarter was characterized by relatively soft demand, weather impacts and readily available truck capacity. The impact of accumulated inflation remains a drag on the amount of truckload freight generated in relation to consumer spending.”
Seth Clevenger and Mike Senatore dive into the Transport Topics Top 100 list of the largest logistics companies. They address trade challenges, mergers, sector trends and more. Tune in above or by going to .
Revenue hauled by rail, air and ocean cargo carriers increased 7.8% to $83 million from $77 million. When broken down, rail intermodal revenue decreased 22.9% to $17.5 million from $22.7 million, while ocean and air cargo revenue increased 21.4% to $65.6 million from $54.1 million.
Landstar ranks No. 10 on the Transport Topics Top 100 list of the largest for-hire carriers in North America and No. 25 on the TT Top 100 logistics companies list. It also ranks No. 48 on the TT Top 100 global freight companies list.
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