Truckload Sector Managing Cash Tightly
Despite declining revenues and margins over the past few years, large truckload fleet balance sheets are holding up quite well. They have the borrowing capacity to expand when the time is right.
Key Observations
- Debt-to-equity ratios are holding up quite well. The 3 basis point increase in debt in Q1 2025 is essentially no move. Truckload fleets have been reluctant to take on debt in the last three years.
- Cash positions dropped a lot less from 2024 to 2025 than from 2023 to 2024. Total cash was down 8.6% YoY this year vs 28.7% down from Q1 2023 to Q1 2024. But lower revenues this year meant the cash-to-quarterly-revenue ratio dropped from 15.5% to 12.3%.
- The change in current assets was less pronounced. There was less than a one percentage point change in current assets as a percentage of revenue. Total current assets dropped more than cash - 10.3% vs 8.6%, due mostly to a drop in accounts receivable on the books at the end of the quarter.
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