C.H. Robinson’s Q4 sees little improvement; shift at top of brokerage unit

Any rebound in the fiscal performance at 3PL giant C.H. Robinson looks to be a ways off.

Earnings for the fourth quarter of 2023, released Wednesday, had little good news, whether the comparison was with the fourth quarter a year earlier or sequentially from the third quarter, when the company named its still relatively new CEO and President David Bozeman.

Income from operations came in at $107.4 million, down 34.5% from a year earlier. But that key figure also was down from the third quarter number of $113.5 million.

Down the line, the comparisons were all negative. That they were worse than the fourth quarter of 2022 was not a surprise, but Bozeman cited several statistics regarding C.H. Robinson’s fourth-quarter performance, as well as the normal seasonal changes between the third and fourth quarter reflected in Cass data, to show that sequentially the company’s performance showed signs of improvement.

Still, on an outright basis, the numbers were all negative sequentially and year on year. Gross profits in the fourth quarter were $609.3 million. That was down 20% from a year earlier and down from $626.6 million in the third quarter.

Investors’ first reaction to the earnings was negative. Per Barchart data, C.H. Robinson stock was down 3.77% at about 6:20 p.m., a decline of $3.17, to $80.92. The stock is down a little less than 13% for the 52 weeks.

A new head at NAST

The lagging performance of many months might have been the cause of a significant shakeup in the company’s leadership ranks. C.H. Robinson (NASDAQ: CHRW) used the occasion of the earnings release to announce a change in the top at its North American Surface Transportation unit, the core of its 3PL activities.

It stayed in-house in appointing Michael Castagnetto to president of NAST, effective immediately. His predecessor, Mac Pinkerton, was said by C.H. Robinson to be “transitioning from his current role.”

Source: freightwaves.com