By most financial measures, the second quarter at TFI International was strong.
Second quarter diluted earnings per share were up 41% to $1.65 from the corresponding quarter a year ago
EBITDA was up more than 11%. But underneath that, and what came through in Monday evening’s conference call with analysts, is that the rise in profitability came from the Truckload operations at TFI, as well as its Logistics segment, while LTL, which provided 41% of the revenue, improved but not as much as Truckload. The difference between the two at TFI (NYSE: TFII) was most stark in their respective EBITDA margins.
It was 18% for LTL, and 24.1% for Truckload. (Logistics had a 16.3% EBITDA margin). In the first quarter, the respective numbers were 12.1% and 19.5%. While the percentage gain was more for LTL in the quarter, that measure of profitability continues to lag Truckload.