LITTLE ROCK — P.A.M. Transportation Services Inc. on Wednesday reported its first profit in the first quarter in five years.
Growth in so-called expedited deliveries and offerings in Mexico, coupled with better weather, were part of what drove the Tontitown holding company’s performance, according to a news release.
The trucker specializing in hauling automotive-related freight reported net income of $674,193, or 8 cents per share, for the quarter ended March 31, compared with a net loss of $1.98 million, or 21 cents per share, for the year-ago period. The company’s estimated profit is no longer surveyed by investment banks.
The business has reported losses for the past three years.
P.A.M. reported firstquarter-revenue of $96.16 million, compared with $85.03 million in the first quarter of 2011.
Automotive freight made up about 38 percent of the trucker’s revenue in 2011. P.A.M. is owned by a Michigan family with longtime connections to the automotive industry.
P.A.M.’s No. 1 automotive customer is General Motors — one of the recipients of government bailout funds. Daniel Cushman, the carrier’s president and chief executive, said by phone that five carmakers are now counted among its customer base.
Positive earnings were “additional validation that the initiatives that have been put in place over the last several quarters are continuing to mature and positively impact both top line revenue growth and cost control,” Cushman, who took over the top spot in 2009, said in a news release.
Domestic growth came from contracts with FedEx of Memphis and UPS of Atlanta, whom Cushman identified as its expedited customers.
Domestic growth also will come from drivers with special hazardous-materials licenses, Cushman said in a phone interview Wednesday.
P.A.M. operated an average of 1,746 company-owned and owner-operated trucks, during the January-March period.
Total miles traveled during the quarter were up 4.9 percent at 50.69 million miles and so were uncompensated miles, which represented 8.87 percent of that total.
Cushman takes credit for opening sales offices in Mexico, thus diversifying the number of Mexican carriers with which the company does business.
“Mexico is going to be a huge growth engine for us,” he said.
And, in Mexico, automotive freight will be a part of the mix.
The auto-manufacturing industry in Mexico is thriving. Mexican production in February was up 24 percent in the year-over-year comparison, according to a recent Washington Post article.
Carriers hauling car parts say the automotive industry continues to be a profitable customer in the aftermath of the recession and with retrenchment in the U.S. market.
Shannon Everett, a marketing executive with automotive carrier Rich Logistics in Little Rock, said Wednesday that volumes were up over the last year and definitely up since 2009.
Automotive plants are running “full time and some have extra shifts,” he said. “We’re getting plenty of freight.”
Executives reported their 2011 compensation in a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
Cushman earned $487,184 in total annual compensation in 2011, a 4.88 percent increase compared with $464,510 in 2010.
Larry Goddard, executive vice president, earned $300,390 in 2011, a decrease of less than 1 percent from $301,284. Lance Stewart, chief financial officer, earned $197,405, a nearly 20 percent increase compared with $164,857, according to an Associated Press compensation formula.
Shares of P.A.M. Transportation Services Inc. rose a penny to $10.85 Wednesday on the Nasdaq. Its stock has traded as high as $12.58 and as low as $9.03 over the past 52 weeks.
Business, Pages 25 on 04/26/2012