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Schneider Benefits From Dividends & Buyback Amid Rising Expenses

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Schneider National, Inc.’s (SNDR - Free Report) bottom line has been benefiting from its consistent shareholder-friendly initiatives and a reduction in capital expenditures. However,reduced earnings per share (EPS) guidance looks disappointing and raises concerns about the stock.

Factors Boosting SNDR's Growth

Schneider’s consistent measures to reward its shareholders through dividends and share buybacks are appreciative. During 2023, SNDR paid dividends of $63.6 million and repurchased shares worth $66.9 million. During the first half of 2024, SNDR paid dividends of $33.3 million and repurchased shares worth $25.8 million. Such shareholder-friendly moves instill investor confidence and positively impact the company's bottom line.

Declining capital expenditures bode well for the company's bottom-line growth. During the first half of 2024, SNDR incurred net capital expenditures of $181.6 million compared with $298.1 million in the year-ago quarter. The downside was owing to lower purchases of transportation equipment. For 2024, SNDR has reduced its net capital expenditures guidance to the range of $300 and $350 million from $350-$400 million guided previously.

Partly due to these tailwinds, SNDR has gained 18.9% over the past three months, outperforming its industry’s loss of 2.2%.

Zacks Investment Research
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

Key Risks for SNDR Stock

On the flip side, reduced EPS guidance looks disappointing and raises concerns about the stock. Schneider now anticipates 2024 adjusted EPS in the range of $0.80-$0.90 (prior view: $0.85-$1.00). Further, SNDR has a disappointing earnings surprise history. The company's earnings have lagged the Zacks Consensus Estimate in three of the last four quarters (surpassing the mark in the remaining quarter). The average miss is 17.47%.

Schneider's liquidity position raises concerns about the stock. Schneider exited the second quarter of 2024 with cash and cash equivalents of $103.2 million, lower than the long-term debt of $125.8 million. This implies that the company does not have enough cash to meet its debt obligations.

Schneider’s return on equity (ROE) undercuts its growth potential. Its ROE of 4.1% compares unfavorably with its industry’s average of 14.1%.

Schneider’s Zacks Rank

Currently, Schneider carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).

Stocks to Consider

Some better-ranked stocks from the Zacks Transportation sector are C.H. Robinson Worldwide (CHRW - Free Report) and Wabtec Corporation (WAB - Free Report) . Each stock presently sports a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

CHRW has an impressive earnings surprise history. The company's earnings outpaced the Zacks Consensus Estimate in three of the trailing four quarters (missed the mark in the remaining quarter), delivering an average surprise of 7.33%.

CHRW has an expected earnings growth rate of 22.42% for 2024. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for CHRW 2024 earnings has been revised 11.3% upward over the past 90 days. Shares of CHRW have gained 14.3% so far this year.

WAB has an impressive earnings surprise history. The company's earnings outpaced the Zacks Consensus Estimate in three of the trailing four quarters (missed the mark in the remaining quarter), delivering an average surprise of 11.83%.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for WAB’s 2024 earnings has been revised 3.3% upward over the past 90 days. WAB has an expected earnings growth rate of 25.34% for 2024. Shares of WAB have gained 23.5% so far this year.

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