Landstar quantifies suspected fraud event, delays Q1 report

2 months ago 13

Todd Maiden

Mon, Apr 28, 2025, 9:44 AM 2 min read

Freight broker Landstar System announced it has delayed reporting first-quarter results arsenic it further investigates suspected proviso concatenation fraud that was uncovered during the past week of March. It said the lawsuit is not expected to transcend $15 cardinal of nett income earlier accounting for nonrecreational fees and imaginable security recoveries.

On April 2, the Jacksonville, Florida-based company chopped its earnings-per-share guidance for the 4th to a scope of 90 to 95 cents from $1.05 to $1.25, citing “highly elevated” security and claims expenses “primarily owed to cargo theft and motortruck mishap assertion development.” It besides flagged an probe into “significant proviso concatenation fraud,” which was expected to magnitude to a 35-to-50-cent EPS deed to the play earlier immoderate security recovery.

A Friday update said the fraud took spot successful its freight forwarding portion and could beryllium arsenic precocious arsenic a 43-cent EPS resistance ($15 cardinal aft tax) connected the archetypal quarter. It besides rescheduled its first-quarter net merchandise day to May 13 from Tuesday and sought a five-day filing hold with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

“The rescheduling of the Company’s 2025 archetypal 4th net merchandise and the anticipated hold successful filing the Company’s Form 10-Q for the 2025 archetypal 4th subordinate to the ongoing valuation of definite accounting and interior power matters successful transportation with this antecedently referenced fraud matter,” a quality merchandise stated.

“It should beryllium noted that portion probe continues, this substance relates to the Company’s planetary freight forwarding operations, and the Company believes that this substance is constricted to the operations of 1 circumstantial autarkic committee income agency.”

The study didn’t sanction the agency.

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Landstar (NASDAQ: LSTR) said first-quarter gross came successful astatine $1.153 billion, which was adjacent the precocious extremity of its archetypal $1.075 cardinal to $1.175 cardinal gross outlook provided astatine the extremity of January.

That usher was predicated connected a 7% to 2% year-over-year diminution successful loads hauled by truck. The early-April update said loads hauled by motortruck were down 4% y/y done the archetypal 8 weeks of the 4th (dry van loads down 6% y/y, flatbed loads down 5% and power-only loads up 26%).

The archetypal outlook besides forecast gross per load to scope from down 2% to up 3% y/y. Revenue per load was level y/y done the archetypal 8 weeks of the 4th (dry van down 2% and flatbed up 4%).

The Friday update said first-quarter EPS was 95 cents, 1 cent beneath the existent statement estimate, earlier accounting for the fraud event.