Yellow's earnings up in 3Q

Yellow said its earnings would have been higher in the quarter, but it had to take a charge of $5.7 million related to the spin-off of SCS Transportation, a holding company for two regional LTL carriers.

Overland Park, KS-based Yellow said operating revenues climbed 6.7% to $682 million this quarter compared to the same period in 2001. For the first nine months of 2002, operating revenue stayed the same as last year at $1.9 billion.

Freight volumes and revenues also climbed for Yellow Transportation. Revenue increased to $662 million, up from $637 million in the third quarter of 2001. LTL revenue per day, excluding fuel surcharges, was up 5% in the quarter compared to the same quarter in 2001, reflecting a 1.9% increase in LTL tonnage per day and a 3% improvement in LTL revenue per hundred weight, excluding fuel surcharges, Yellow said.

Yellow president & CEO Bill Zollars added that the company expects to continuing profiitng from the demise of rival Consolidated Freightways (CF), which filed for bankruptcy in September.

"We are experiencing LTL revenue increases of approximately 15%, with incremental margins of 20%, as a result of the closure of CF," he said.

Assuming those trends continue, Zollars said he expects Yellow earnings in the fourth quarter to be between 45 to 50 cents per share.