First look: Old Dominion almost a sub-70 OR

Old Dominion is getting very close to having an operating ratio that begins with a six. Second quarter earnings for the LTL carrier produced an OR of 70. 1%. It’s a sharp improvement over a year ago, when the second quarter of 2025 produced an OR of 74. 6%. For the six months, the company’s OR is now 72. 9%.

Old Dominion produced the performance even as most of its metrics that measure how much business it conducted were down. Compared to a year ago, the company shipped fewer tons, had lower tonnage per day and had reduced shipments. But its revenue per hundredweight excluding fuel rose 5. 5% to $29. 71.

Revenue per hundredweight including fuel, which appears to have been a tailwind for the company during the quarter, jumped to $37. 84 from $32. 84. Revenue per shipment excluding fuel took a bigger jump, up 7. 2%. Weight per shipment inched up 1. 7%.

In the prepared statement released in conjunction with the earnings, Old Dominion CEO Marty Freeman said the company also had a 99% on-time service rate and a claims ratio of just 0. 1%.

“The strength of our second quarter financial results reflects continued improvement in demand trends and the benefits of our long-term focus on yield discipline and operational execution,” Freeman said. Old Dominion, like several other publicly-traded LTL companies, has had a rough run since early June.

The vague threat of Amazon efforts in the LTL space have sent several LTL stocks sinking since then. Old Dominion’s 52-week high was on June 9 at $252. 03. It closed Tuesday at $226. 28 but is still up 37. 7% in the last 52 weeks. Earnings per share of $1. 68 were reported by SeekingAlpha to have beaten the Wall Street consensus by 15 cents. Revenue of $1.

55 billion was slightly higher than the consensus. An earnings call is set for 10 a. m. EDT. More articles by John Kingston The post First look: Old Dominion almost a sub-70 OR appeared first on FreightWaves.