Dallas, Texas 02/20/2014 (FINANCIALSTRENDS) – The $3.38 billion market capped transportation services firm Swift Transportation Co (NYSE:SWFT) announced results for its fourth quarter and full year operations in the last week of January. On the back of the better than expected results announcement, the stock has appreciated by close to 12.6 percent in market valuation since then. The analyst community too has been quick to recognize the long term potential of the stock and have increased the price target as well as upgrade the stock.
The latest analyst firm to upgrade the stock was Wunderlich which increased the PT on the stock to $30 per share as against its current price target of $24 and recommended a buy rating on the stock on 19th February. Longbow Research had also upgraded the stock from a neutral to a buy rating on January 29th on the heels of the better than expected results.
In its fourth quarter operations report, the firm had reported a earnings per share of 32 cents as against analyst expectation of 35 cents. The revenue for the quarter came in at $1.08 billion, which was in line with analyst expectations and met the 4Q12 revenue call out. The 4Q revenue represented a 2.7 percent increase over 4Q12 numbers.
Commenting about the big build up in demand which is driving the positive estimates released by the firm for full year 2014, Swift Transportation Co (NYSE:SWFT) President and Chief Operating Officer Richard Stocking has been quoted to have said that, “demand has started out pretty strong in January. However, if volumes continue to strengthen and are sustained for a meaningful period of time than we could have additional opportunities to increase our truckload rate per mile above the 2% to 3% guidance provided in the letter to stockholders. A lot of it will depend on the macro economy and consumer spending or demand environment”.
