Rush Enterprises: Rush Enterprises, Inc. Reports Fourth Quarter and Year-End 2024 Results, Announces $0.18 per Share Dividend

Annual revenues of $7.8 billion; net income of $304.2 millionAnnual earnings per diluted share of $3.724th quarter revenues of $2.0 billion; net income of $74.8 millionBoard declares cash dividend of $.18 per share of Class A and Class B common stockSAN ANTONIO, Feb. 18, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Rush Enterprises, Inc. (NASDAQ:RUSHA, RUSHB)), which operates the largest network of commercial vehicle dealerships in North America, today announced that for the year ended December 31, 2024, the Company achieved revenues of $7.8 billion and net income of $304.2 million, or $3.72 per diluted share, compared with revenues of $7.9 billion and net income of $347.1 million, or $4.15 per diluted share, for the year ended December 31, 2023. In the third quarter of 2024, the Company recognized a one-time, pre-tax charge of approximately $3.3 million, or $0.03 per share, related to property damage caused by Hurricane Helene. In the third quarter of 2023, the Company recognized a one-time, pre-tax charge of approximately $2.5 million, or $0.02 per share, related to a fire loss at our San Antonio, Texas facility. Excluding the one-time losses related to those incidents, the Company's adjusted net income for the year ended December 31, 2024, was $306.7 million, or $3.75 per diluted share, while the Company's adjusted net income for the year ended December 31, 2023, was $349.0 million, or $4.17 per diluted share. Additionally, the Company's Board of Directors declared a cash dividend of $0.18 per share of Class A and Class B common stock, to be paid on March 18, 2025, to all shareholders of record as of March 3, 2025."Despite the persistent headwinds the industry faced in 2024, I am proud of the financial results our team delivered," said W.M. "Rusty" Rush, Chairman, Chief Executive Officer and President of Rush Enterprises, Inc. "The ongoing freight recession, continued high interest rates and general economic uncertainty had an outsized impact on over-the-road carriers, our largest customer segment, which translated to weak demand for Class 8 trucks throughout the year from that segment. However, vocational and public sector sales of new Class 8 trucks continued to be bright spots in our diversified customer mix, and our strength in those customer segments helped offset the weak demand from over-the-road customers. Our Class 4-7 truck sales were strong across all of the customer segments we support, and we significantly outpaced the market in medium-duty sales. In addition, while the used truck market remained difficult, we continued to execute well on our used truck sales strategy, which allowed us to achieve solid profits from our used truck sales operations in 2024," continued Rush."The same challenging operating conditions that impacted new Class 8 truck sales also impacted our aftermarket sales in 2024. Parts revenue was down year-over-year, primarily due to decreased sales to over-the-road and wholesale customers. However, our service and body shop revenues were up compared to 2023, driven primarily by sales to our vocational, public sector and medium-duty leasing customers, in addition to our continued focus on our strategic aftermarket initiatives such as our planned maintenance, Xpress services and mobile service offerings," said Rush. "Although aftermarket revenues were down slightly year-over-year, thanks to the efforts of our aftermarket sales force and our commitment to our "One Team" sales strategy, we managed to slightly outperform the industry in 2024," he explained."I am also pleased to announce that our Board of Directors has declared a quarterly cash dividend of $.18 per share. This cash dividend, along with the $150 million stock repurchase program announced in the fourth quarter of 2024, reflects our continued confidence in our ability to generate strong free cash flow despite a challenging operating environment and our ongoing commitment to returning value to our shareholders while also maintaining a strong balance sheet that allows us to invest in the future of our business," said Rush."Looking to 2025, although we are beginning to see signs of improvements in freight rates, we anticipate the soonest we may see a meaningful recovery to the freight market is the end of the second quarter, and we expect retail sales of new Class 8 trucks to be challenging through the first half of 2025 before accelerating in the second half of the year. We believe that our new Class 8 truck sales will keep pace with the market in 2025. From a Class 4-7 commercial vehicle perspective, although the market has softened slightly, we believe we are well-positioned to quickly meet customer needs and expect to continue to grow our medium-duty market share in 2025," Rush stated. "While the aftermarket industry will continue to face the same challenges we experienced in 2024 through the first few months of the year, we are optimistic that the freight environment will improve and demand for aftermarket services will follow. Through our continued focus on our strategic initiatives, national accounts and maintaining a diversified customer base, we expect our aftermarket operations to outperform the market in 2025," said Rush. "In addition, like the rest of the commercial vehicle industry, we are currently monitoring proposed tariffs that may impact vehicles or component parts manufactured in Canada, Mexico or China. If such tariffs are enacted and significantly increase the aggregate price that our customers will have to pay for new commercial vehicles or parts, we believe that demand for new commercial vehicles and parts may be negatively impacted in 2025," stated Rush."As always, I want to express my sincere gratitude to our employees across the organization for their hard work and dedication to implementing our strategic initiatives throughout a challenging year. I am particularly appreciative of the work they did to reduce expenses in 2024. Their focus on strategic execution and expense management had a significant positive impact on our financial performance for the year," Rush added.Network GrowthThe Company expanded its network in 2024 by adding two Rush Truck Centers locations in Nebraska, a full-service Peterbilt dealership in Grand Island and a Peterbilt parts and service location in North Platte. Additionally, the Company added parts and mobile service locations in California and Texas with Rush Truck Centers - Otay Mesa and Rush Truck Centers - Austin North. The Company also added to its vehicle modification and upfitting capabilities with a Custom Vehicle Solutions location in Yuma, Arizona. "These new locations represent our ongoing commitment to expand our network to better serve customers, particularly with the acquisition of the two Peterbilt dealerships in Nebraska along the busy Interstate 80 corridor," said Rush. "Our new Custom Vehicle Solutions facility in Yuma significantly expands our pre-delivery inspection and vehicle modification capabilities, which is particularly beneficial to our refuse customers," he continued.OperationsAftermarket Products and ServicesAftermarket products and services accounted for approximately 60.4% of the Company's total gross profits in 2024, with parts, service and collision center revenues totaling $2.5 billion, down 1.8% compared to 2023. The Company achieved an annual absorption ratio of 132.2% in 2024, compared to 135.3% in 2023."While our aftermarket revenues were down slightly year-over-year due to the challenging industry conditions previously described, we managed to grow our market share by expanding our national account sales force, which enabled us to provide expanded services to large strategic accounts. Growing our national account sales, combined with the continued strength we experienced in our vocational, public sector and medium-duty leasing customer segments, helped offset sluggish sales to our over-the-road, energy and wholesale customers. Additionally, we continue to benefit from the investments we have made in our aftermarket strategic initiatives, particularly with respect to the expansion of our mobile service fleet, which allows us to better serve customers when and where they need us. Mobile service technicians and technicians embedded in customers' shops continue to play a larger role in our aftermarket service sales mix and were key contributors to our market share growth in 2024," Rush said."We expect demand for aftermarket parts and service to remain relatively weak through the first few months of 2025 due to the slower-than-expected freight recovery and continued low fleet utilization from our over-the-road customers. We believe that our continued focus on growing our national account customer base and our focus on other aftermarket strategic initiatives will result in aftermarket revenue growth this year. Additionally, we are committed to growing our technician workforce this year, particularly with respect to mobile technicians, which we believe will enable us to reduce vehicle dwell time in our shops, better serve our customers, increase our back-counter parts sales, and generally outperform the market in 2025," said Rush.Commercial Vehicle SalesNew U.S. and Canadian Class 8 retail truck sales totaled 275,184 units in 2024, down 8.8% over 2023, according to ACT Research. The Company sold 15,465 new Class 8 trucks in 2024, a decrease of 11.4% compared to 2023, and accounted for 6.1% of the new U.S. Class 8 truck market and 1.7% of the new Canada Class 8 truck market. ACT Research forecasts U.S. and Canadian retail sales of new Class 8 trucks to total 277,200 units in 2025, a 0.7% increase compared to 2024."Market conditions were challenging throughout the year and commercial vehicle inventory levels were high industry-wide, resulting in much more competitive pricing compared to the past few years. However, our focus on Class 8 specialty markets allowed us to continue to achieve strong sales to municipal, refuse and other vocational customers in 2024,