ArcBest Corp. ( ARCB ) shares fell Wednesday following the company’s third-quarter 2025 results, which beat analyst expectations on both adjusted earnings and revenue.

Adjusted EPS was $1.46, topping the $1.37 estimate, while sales reached $1.048 billion, exceeding the $1.038 billion forecast.

GAAP EPS was $1.72, compared with $4.23 a year earlier, which included a one-time $69.1 million after-tax benefit from the MoLo acquisition.

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Net income from continuing operations was $39.3 million, compared with $100.3 million in the same period last year. On a non-GAAP basis, net income was $33.4 million, versus $38.8 million in the prior year.

In the Asset-Based segment, revenue rose to $726.5 million from $709.7 million, with tonnage per day up 2.3% and shipments per day up 4.3%.

Billed revenue per hundredweight decreased 1.1%. Operating income was $70.2 million, with an operating ratio of 90.3%, including $15.9 million in asset sale gains.

Excluding those gains, non-GAAP operating income was $54.4 million, with an operating ratio of 92.5%. Customer contract renewals and deferred pricing resulted in a 4.5% increase, while the cost per shipment improved by 1% year over year.

In the Asset-Light segment, revenue totaled $356 million, down from $385.3 million. Revenue decline was primarily due to lower revenue per shipment in a soft-rate environment and a higher mix of managed transportation business, which typically involves smaller, lower-revenue shipments.

The segment reported an operating loss of $1.6 million; on a non-GAAP basis, operating income was $1.6 million, and adjusted EBITDA reached $3.1 million. Shipments per day increased by 2.5%, and productivity reached a record, measured by shipments per person per day.

Balance Sheet and Capital Returns

Year-to-date, ArcBest ( ARCB ) has returned more than $66 million to shareholders through repurchases and dividends. The company ended the quarter with $120.6 million in cash and total long-term debt of $135.5 million, plus $78.6 million in the current portion.

Operating cash flow for the first nine months totaled $184.3 million.

Management stated that asset-based shipment and tonnage growth continued despite a soft freight environment, while Asset-Light achieved record productivity amid ongoing industry-wide pricing pressures.

Market Headwinds Pressure Both Segments

In October 2025, Asset-Based performance softened, with slower shipment growth and declines in both weight per shipment and daily tonnage compared with the prior year. Revenue per hundredweight was essentially flat.

Sequentially, shipments per day and daily tonnage declined modestly, while revenue per hundredweight slipped about 1 percent. Management now expects the non-GAAP operating ratio to worsen by roughly 400 basis points from the third quarter to the fourth quarter, a steeper pullback than the typical 100–200 basis-point seasonal decline, reflecting continued freight-market weakness.

In the Asset-Light segment, daily revenue fell year over year as lower revenue per shipment and a higher mix of smaller Managed loads weighed on results, though shipment volumes increased on steady demand for Managed solutions. Month over month, daily revenue dipped about 3% as shipments per day fell 9%, while revenue per shipment rose 6 percent—consistent with normal seasonal patterns.

Management anticipates a non-GAAP operating loss of $1 million to $3 million in the fourth quarter of 2025, excluding any contingent-consideration fair-value changes (assumed zero) and about $3 million of purchase-accounting amortization.

Price Action: ARCB shares were trading lower by 3.15% to $69.14 at last check Wednesday.

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