It's no surprise that Proficent Auto Logistics, the only publicly traded auto transporter, has the first four months of schizophrenia because its business is linked to the fate of the U.S. auto market.
The number on the bottom line is not a positive number. The skilled job ratio was significantly weakened in the first quarter. The company's record is 98.7%, compared to 93.2% a year ago. By the way, it improved by 10 basis points to 98.8%.
Proficiency (NASDAQ:PAL) reported operating losses of $2.36 million, while operating profits of $6.54 million a year ago. It suffered operating losses of $2.4 million in the fourth quarter of 2024.
Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization fell from $10.9 million a year ago, but slightly above $7 million from last year's fourth quarter figures.
Wall Street doesn't like what it hears. According to Seecingalpha, its net income loss per share was 12 cents a share of 4 cents apart from the consensus. There is a slight consensus on revenue of $95.2 million.
At about 11:10 a.m., skilled stocks fell 51 cents per share to $7.61, down 6.3%. But that was $7.01 from the day's low.
During the company’s earnings call with analysts on Wednesday, CEO Rick O'Dell reviewed proficiency performance, not only for the three months reported in revenue, but also for April. "The first quarter of this year is characterized by two parts," O'Dell said in an understatement.
Odell said January and the first half of February were “an unusually low batch volumes, weak revenue per unit and weaker damage to weather.” The number one year ago increased by only 1% from a year ago. Revenue as of mid-February fell by more than 17% compared with the same period last year, the same in turn.
But Odell said March was strong, with unit volume up 17% from March 2024 and revenues up 11%. It is driven by the national sales rate of 17.8 million cars sold that month, up from 15.6 million in January and 16 million in February. Odell said the surge was the “attractive” of car sales before various tariffs were imposed.
Discussions about the call exceeded the first and second quarters. Odell said proficient April revenues created record revenues. It is in a way that “it’s essentially much better than our current breakeven level, working in a normalized environment with more than 90 percent.”
However, the ability to continue at these speeds is questionable. "Industry data seem to indicate a decline in sales trends by May," Odell said. "After skilled April, the moderate volume of transportation, especially imported vehicles."
Although O'Dell talked about the slowdown in May, he said the skilled prospect is that the company will increase revenue in the second quarter by 8% compared to the first.
“Our OEM customers are dealing with this economic uncertainty and the costs are significantly higher relative to their expectations,” he said. “In real time, they will decide where their production takes place and whether to reduce imports on a near-term and structural basis. Their decisions on these key issues will have a big impact on the environment, namely proficient in navigation for the rest of 2025.”
Amy Rice, skilled president and chief operating officer, said the company's portfolio is about domestic auto transportation, with about 40% imported.
She said OEM’s strategy for skilled services has been extensive.
"They have been taking all kinds of actions or infringements," she said. "Some importers are just continuing to operate as usual and believe that the tariff landscape will become clearer in time and that they will continue to adjust in real time.
Since becoming a publicly traded company, a skilled corporate strategy has been one of the acquisitions. It began the quarter with the acquisition of Brothers Automobile Transportation. O'Dell said the brothers were "a strategic complement (this), which increases our presence and density in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic regions and provides new load opportunities and other efficiencies for our existing operations."
O'Dell said the current "volatility" could slow down any trading. “That being said, we are starting to see some troubled assets listed and we will be wise to the opportunities we pursue and the opportunities we want to pass.”
The demise of Jack Cooper, a large car hauler, was not mentioned in the call, a quarter of the first introduced since the shutdown earlier this year. (Although Jack Cooper's closure occurred in the first quarter, the latest call ahead of Wednesday was to review the performance of the fourth quarter.)
During the call, rice was asked about industry capabilities. "There are big players in the industry," she noted. "Most of your players have some competence." But without mentioning Jack Cooper's name, she said she lost that capability, which means "car volumes will return in a sustainable way, and I think the industry will feel capacitated."
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2 Postal Markets in Q1: Proficient automatic demand fluctuations first appeared on FreightWaves.