Schneider CEO Mark Rourke said he did see momentum start to build toward the end of the year. (Schneider)
January 30, 2026 3:40 PM, EST
Key Takeaways:
- Schneider reported lower fourth-quarter profit as net income fell to $22.1 million despite a 5% revenue increase.
- CEO Mark Rourke said regulatory actions and capacity exits are beginning to normalize freight markets, while cost cuts and a shift toward dedicated and intermodal offerings aim to boost leverage.
- The carrier posted full-year net income of $103.6 million and announced a planned CEO transition, with Jim Filter set to take over July 1 as Rourke becomes executive chairman.
Schneider responded to a disappointing fourth quarter with renewed resolve to improve operations and prepare for an expected freight upturn, the company reported Jan. 29.
The Green Bay, Wis.-based truckload motor carrier posted net income of $22.1 million, or 13 cents a diluted share, for the three months ending Dec. 31. That compared with $32.6 million, 18 cents, during the same time the previous year. Total operating revenue increased 5% to $1.4 billion from $1.34 billion.
“I want to begin by acknowledging that the fourth-quarter results fell short of our expectations,” Schneider CEO Mark Rourke said during a call with investors. “When we provided our update last quarter, October results and market conditions were supportive of finishing 2025 at approximately 70 cents of earnings per share. However, November, and much of December, were materially more challenged than our guidance had contemplated.”
Rourke added that these tougher conditions reflected a truncated peak season and poor weather conditions throughout the Midwest. But he did see momentum start to build toward the end of the year due to supply attrition in the past several months. The Department of Transportation over that time has been cracking down on standards for commercial driver licenses.
“We believe we’re in the early innings of normalizing market conditions, in part due to the various regulatory actions being taken,” Rourke said. “Importantly, these actions aren’t only driving capacity to exit the market at an accelerated rate, but the ability to backfill new entrance is also increasingly diminished. We expect the full impact will likely be measured in quarters, not months. Still the last several years have proved to be a challenging backdrop, and we are not satisfied with our results.”
2025Q4Exhibit99.1earnings
Schneider has been working throughout the freight market downturn to lower the cost to serve its network. Rourke said strides made in those efforts have led to structural changes that he expects will improve the company’s operating leverage going forward. Those efforts also have included growing dedicated offerings to nearly 70% of the fleet to increase the durability and resilience of the truckload segment.
“We’ve created true differentiation and value in the marketplace in our intermodal offering and scaled our flexible asset light-tech enabled solutions, all of which have been supplemented with our accretive acquisitions. We recognize that improvement in market conditions is needed for the full benefit of these investments to be evident. But we believe we will exit this down cycle more ready than ever to meet a market correction.”
For the full year, Schneider reported net income of $103.6 million, 59 cents, on revenue of $5.67 billion, compared with net income of $117 million, 66 cents, on revenue of $5.29 billion in 2024.
Ahead of the earnings call, Schneider announced Jan. 28 that Jim Filter will be the next CEO of Schneider starting July 1, replacing Rourke as the company’s top executive as part of a planned leadership transition. Rourke, who has served as CEO since 2019, will become executive chairman of the carrier’s board. Currently, Filter is Schneider’s executive vice president and group president of transportation and logistics.
Revenue by Segment
Truckload revenue increased 9% to $610 million from $560.1 million. The increase was driven by a 21% rise in dedicated volume that was largely attributable to the Cowan Systems acquisition. These gains were partially offset by lower dedicated revenue per truck per week. The report noted that friction costs related to onboarding new dedicated business were partially offset by improved network productivity. Income from operations increased 16% to $23 million from $19.8 million.
Intermodal revenue decreased 3% to $268.2 million from $276.2 million. The decline was driven by a 5% decrease in revenue per order related to customer rates and freight mix. This was partially offset by volume growth of 3% and also met with lower purchased transportation costs as a result of the lane mix. Income from operations increased 5% to $18 million from $17.2 million.
Logistics revenue increased 2% to $329.3 million from $323.9 million. This was primarily due to the Cowan acquisition, partially offset by lower legacy brokerage volume. Income from operations increased 69% to $2.6 million from $8.5 million.
Schneider ranks No. 10 on the Transport Topics Top 100 list of the largest for-hire carriers in North America and No. 18 on the TT Top 100 list of the largest logistics companies. It also comes in No. 50 among TT’s Top 50 global freight companies.
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