Exceptional Growth Lingers into Landstar's Q1; We Expect Normalization but not a Freight Recession

Wide-moat truck broker Landstar’s first-quarter gross revenue continued its strong growth trajectory, rising 53% year over year—ahead of our forecast as increases in both loads and pricing (revenue per load) exceeded our expectations. Relative to the year-ago period, growth continued to be driven by healthy underlying dry van and flatbed demand rooted in heavy retailer restocking and favorable industrial end markets. Further, extremely tight TL-market capacity continued to supported excellent core rate gains, especially in the spot market where Landstar has heavy exposure.