C.H. Robinson’s Earnings Surge 46% Despite Lower Revenue

C.H. Robinson Worldwide experienced a 45.6% surge in earnings off lower revenue during the first quarter of 2025, the company reported April 30.

The Eden Prairie, Minn.-based logistics and shipping company posted net income of $135.3 million, or $1.11 a diluted share, for the three months ending March 31. That compared with $92.9 million, 78 cents, during the same time the previous year. Total revenue decreased 8.3% to $4.05 billion from $4.41 million.

“Our Q1 results reflect progress in the disciplined execution of the strategy that we shared at our Investor Day in December, ” C.H. Robinson CEO Dave Bozeman said during a call with investors. “To take market share and expand our margins, we are not waiting for a market recovery to improve our financial results, and the strategies that the Robinson team is executing are relevant in any market environment.”

C.H. Robinson noted in the report that its continued execution of these strategic initiatives helped to generate year-over-year and sequential market share gains, gross margin expansion and higher operating leverage, despite revenue being driven down by the divestiture of Europe surface transportation, lower volume in North America truckload services and lower pricing in ocean services.

C.H. Robinson Q1 2025 earnings

“Our people have further embraced our new operating model and the discipline needed to generate higher highs and higher lows across market cycles,” Bozeman said. “Despite a challenging freight market, they like the transformation happening at Robinson and the momentum that we have. The vast experience of our resilient employees and the value they bring to our customers and carriers are reflected in our Q1 results.”

Bozeman expects that the company will continue to embrace these initiatives regardless of the market environment. He specifically highlighted artificial intelligence and automation to free up workers so that they can focus on more strategic and higher value work.

“More recently, the new tariffs and fluid trade policies have created market uncertainty and a lack of clarity, making planning activities more difficult and causing many customers to adopt a wait-and-see approach,” Bozeman said. “For years, we have been helping our customers diversify their supply chains to be able to source products from multiple countries. And for C.H. Robinson, while we’re proud of our strength in the transpacific trade line, we have also diversified the global lanes that we serve to make our business more resilient and less dependent on certain trade lanes.”

The results were mixed in terms of Wall Street’s expectations. Analysts were looking for $1.02 per share and quarterly revenue of $4.31 billion, according to Zacks Consensus Estimate.

North American Surface Transportation revenue decreased 4.4% to $2.87 billion from $3 billion during the same time last year. This was primarily driven by lower truckload volume, reflecting a decline in market demand for freight. NAST overall volume decreased approximately 1% for the quarter. Operating expenses decreased 4.7% due to cost-optimization efforts and productivity improvements and prior-year restructuring charges related to workforce reductions. Income from operations increased 31.9% to $143.7 million from $108.9 million.

Global Forwarding segment revenue decreased 9.8% to $774.8 million from $858.6 million last year, primarily due to lower pricing in ocean services. Operating expenses decreased 4.6%. Income from operations increased 36.1% to $42.9 million from $31.6 million.

Susquehanna International Group noted in a report that the company continues to deliver structural improvement despite cyclical headwinds. The investment firm also continues to see value in shares despite expectations that conditions will be below normal seasonality midway through this year. It also was encouraged that a gross profit decline toward the end of the quarter was lower in magnitude compared with seasonality last year. The report even noted that there hasn’t been signs of material market weakening.

“That said, Forwarding clearly will come under pressure in 2Q and likely 3Q with lower China shipments flowing through, despite some potential offset from an increase in ex-China shipments and the company’s customs brokerage business,” SIG analyst Bascome Majors wrote in the report. “CHRW is executing at a high level and isn’t done, with management pledging to drive ‘continuous improvement’ regardless of the market cycle.”

C.H. Robinson ranks No. 2 on the Transport Topics Top 100 list of the largest logistics companies in North America and No. 20 on the TT Top 50 list of the largest global freight companies.