Knight-Swift Transportation (NYSE:KNX) Posts Earnings Results, Misses Expectations By $0.05 EPS

Knight-Swift Transportation (NYSE:KNX) issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday. The transportation company reported $0.31 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.36 by ($0.05), Zacks reports. The company had revenue of $1.86 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.90 billion. Knight-Swift Transportation had a net margin of 1.90% and a return on equity of 2.98%. Knight-Swift Transportation’s revenue for the quarter was down .4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.36 EPS. Knight-Swift Transportation updated its Q1 2026 guidance to 0.280-0.320 EPS.

Here are the key takeaways from Knight-Swift Transportation’s conference call:

• The truckload business delivered meaningful operating leverage: structural cost cuts drove a $28 million increase in adjusted operating income for the year despite a $125 million decline in truckload revenue, and cost per mile was flat year?over?year even with miles down ~3.6%.
• Management sees improving market dynamics and regulatory-driven capacity reductions (especially in one?way TL), with spot rates, rejection rates and bid conversations improving in Dec/early Jan — positioning the company to deploy scale and tech to regain mid?cycle margins.
• Q4 GAAP results included a $52.9 million non?cash impairment (combining Abilene into Swift), producing a GAAP EPS loss of $0.04 and accounting for most of the YoY operating income decline; management also lowered expected gains on equipment sales due to a weakening secondary market.
• LTL grew revenue ex?fuel ~7% and shipments per day ~2.1% but saw adjusted operating income fall ~4.8% (OR +60bps); leadership plans a more deliberate near?term network expansion to restore margins and believes existing infrastructure can support ~$2 billion annualized revenue.
• Logistics and intermodal faced near?term pressure: logistics revenue fell ~4.8% with gross margin compressed by tighter third?party capacity and cargo theft concerns, while intermodal load counts were down (~6%) and profitability remains fragile despite structural cost reductions.

Knight-Swift Transportation Trading Up 4.9%

Shares of NYSE:KNX opened at $57.78 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.33, a current ratio of 1.33 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. Knight-Swift Transportation has a 52-week low of $36.69 and a 52-week high of $61.51. The stock has a market cap of $9.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 65.66, a PEG ratio of 0.73 and a beta of 1.16. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $51.19 and a 200-day moving average price of $46.24.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on KNX shares. Bank of America raised shares of Knight-Swift Transportation from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the company from $41.00 to $50.00 in a research report on Thursday, October 16th. Raymond James Financial increased their price objective on Knight-Swift Transportation from $55.00 to $59.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 14th. Susquehanna boosted their target price on Knight-Swift Transportation from $42.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 8th. Benchmark upped their target price on Knight-Swift Transportation from $55.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 15th. Finally, Barclays increased their price target on Knight-Swift Transportation from $50.00 to $65.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 15th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have issued a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $59.35.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Knight-Swift Transportation news, Chairman Kevin P. Knight sold 35,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $51.01, for a total transaction of $1,785,350.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman directly owned 1,405,347 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $71,686,750.47. This trade represents a 2.43% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CAO Cary M. Flanagan sold 4,300 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $45.04, for a total transaction of $193,672.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 5,644 shares in the company, valued at $254,205.76. This trade represents a 43.24% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 43,992 shares of company stock worth $2,220,707. 3.00% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Knight-Swift Transportation

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in KNX. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC boosted its holdings in Knight-Swift Transportation by 23.3% in the 1st quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC now owns 5,948 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $259,000 after buying an additional 1,124 shares during the last quarter. Focus Partners Wealth purchased a new position in shares of Knight-Swift Transportation in the first quarter valued at approximately $451,000. Cetera Investment Advisers boosted its stake in shares of Knight-Swift Transportation by 6.9% in the second quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 13,724 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $607,000 after acquiring an additional 882 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. increased its position in shares of Knight-Swift Transportation by 57.7% during the second quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,087,719 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $48,110,000 after purchasing an additional 398,116 shares in the last quarter. Finally, First Trust Advisors LP raised its stake in Knight-Swift Transportation by 54.3% in the 2nd quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 491,702 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $21,748,000 after purchasing an additional 172,956 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 88.77% of the company’s stock.

Key Stories Impacting Knight-Swift Transportation

Here are the key news stories impacting Knight-Swift Transportation this week:

• Neutral Sentiment: Company press release announcing fourth?quarter 2025 results and a same?day conference call; investor materials (8?K, slide deck) were made available for details and Q&A. Knight?Swift Announces Results for Fourth Quarter 2025
• Neutral Sentiment: Company investor release and slide deck summarizing results, margins, and operational highlights (primary source documents for the quarter). KNX Press Release & Slide Deck
• Neutral Sentiment: Previews and analyst expectations ahead of the print — background reading on what metrics and trends investors were watching for Q4. Q4 2025 earnings preview (MSN)
• Neutral Sentiment: Additional earnings preview coverage summarizing expected drivers and risks going into the report. Knight?Swift Earnings Preview (Benzinga)
• Negative Sentiment: Zacks note: KNX reported Q4 EPS of $0.31, missing the Zacks consensus of $0.36 and down from $0.36 a year ago — an earnings shortfall that pressures near?term sentiment. KNX Q4 Earnings and Revenues Lag Estimates (Zacks)
• Negative Sentiment: Zacks follow?up: deeper look at key metrics versus estimates and year?ago levels, highlighting where volume and revenue weakness weighed on results. KNX Q4 Key Metrics vs Estimates (Zacks)
• Negative Sentiment: Wall Street Journal: Q4 saw softer revenue driven by lower truckload volumes; Knight?Swift reported a $6.8M loss vs. a $69.5M profit a year earlier — a clear sign of demand softness and margin pressure. Knight?Swift Posts Softer Revenue (WSJ)

About Knight-Swift Transportation

Knight-Swift Transportation Holdings Inc (NYSE: KNX) is one of North America’s largest asset-based truckload carriers, offering a wide range of transportation and logistics services. The company was formed in 2017 through the merger of Knight Transportation and Swift Transportation, each with decades of experience in long-haul dry van and refrigerated freight. Since the merger, Knight-Swift has pursued a growth strategy that includes fleet expansions, targeted acquisitions, and investments in technology to enhance service reliability and network efficiency.

The company’s core business activities include full truckload operations for dry van, temperature-controlled and flatbed shipments.