By Al Root
Truck broker RXO has offered investors some calm in a sea of Amazon-disruption fears.
RXO reported earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization, or Ebitda, of $6 million from sales of $1.4 billion on Thursday, in line with Wall Street estimates. A year ago, RXO reported Ebitda of $22 million from sales of $1.4 billion.
For the second quarter, RXO expects Ebitda of between $27 million and $37 million. Wall Street currently projects $24 million.
Above-Street guidance is a positive. Still, RXO stock was down 1.8% in premarket trading at $1.926, while S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average futures were both up less than 0.1%.
Down isn't preferred, but its OK considering recent history.
Coming into Thursday trading, RXO stock was up 55% so far this year and up 51% over the past 12 months. Investors have been waiting for an end to the freight recession that has lasted more than three years.
They will have to wait longer after Amazon.com dropped a bombshell on the industry. On Monday, the company introduced "Amazon Supply Chain Solutions," which aims to provide distribution, warehousing, and last-mile delivery to "any business."
RXO is a large third-party logistics firm, or 3PL, brokering truck transportation, freight forwarding, and last-mile delivery for customers in an asset-light business model. RXO doesn't own fleets of trucks. The Amazon announcement represents a competitive threat. Its shares dropped almost 10% in response.
"Obviously, we pay attention to everything that happens in the industry. Amazon's built an amazing company. We've got a lot of respect for what they've done," CEO Drew Wilkerson tells Barron's. "You're talking about an overall industry well over $400 billion dollars. So there's a huge available market...we don't worry. We only have a small piece of that. We think our best days are ahead of us."
RXO was spun out of XPO in 2022.
Wilkerson doesn't sound too concerned. And while Amazon has a history of disrupting retail and creating valuable new business, such as Amazon Web Services. Amazon Supply Chain Services enters a large and mature logistics market that offers similar services at low costs.
Like Wilkerson said -- investors still need to pay attention, but they don't have to overreact.
Write to Al Root at allen.root@dowjones.com
This content was created by Barron's, which is operated by Dow Jones & Co. Barron's is published independently from Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal.
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
May 07, 2026 07:40 ET (11:40 GMT)
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