News · Heartland Express, Inc. (HTLD) · Industrials

Heartland Express falls after quarterly EPS misses because of weaker revenue

Session of October 20, 2026 · Published October 21, 2026 · 4 min read

What happened

Heartland Express (HTLD) fell 2.5% on October 20, 2026, because of quarterly results that missed expectations. The company reported third-quarter results the same day.

Closing price over the last 30 trading sessions. On October 20, 2026, HTLD closed at $10.27, down 2.5% on the day and 16.0% lower than 30 sessions earlier.

The stock closed at $10.27 after opening 6.3% below the previous close. Trading volume ran 1.1 times its 20-day average. The S&P 500 rose 0.3% on the day while the Industrials sector median rose 0.5%, making Heartland Express’s move 3.0 percentage points worse than the sector median.

How big was the move

The day’s decline was 1.2 times a typical daily move for the stock, and the shares fell 5.4% over the last five sessions. The stock’s beta is 0.77, indicating it tends to move less than the market. The trading volume being 1.1 times its 20-day average suggests investors were more active than usual around the earnings release.

Each bar is one day's price change; the outlined bar is October 20, 2026. A typical daily move over the past year was 2.5%, so the latest move equals 1.0 times that. Moves outside the dashed lines (about 4.9%) are unusual.

The technical picture

The stock traded 8.7% below its 20-day moving average, 13.6% below its 50-day moving average and 16.6% below its 200-day moving average. The 50-day average is below the 200-day average, a sign of a weak longer-term trend.

Closing price over the past year. HTLD ends the period 36.7% below its 52-week high, below its 50-day average ($11.88) and below its 200-day average ($12.31).

The Relative Strength Index (14 days) read 28, below 30, a level often called oversold. Over one month the shares fell 11.8% and over three months they fell 32.6%, while over one year the stock rose 25.1%, which was 9.4 percentage points ahead of the S&P 500. The stock sat 38.3% below its 52-week high, and 60-day volatility was 34% annualized, higher than 63% of its own readings over five years.

Taken together, the technical indicators point to short-term weakness and elevated volatility despite the stock’s one-year outperformance versus the broader market. The oversold RSI and heavier trading around the report could attract short-term buyers if fundamentals show improvement, but the longer-term moving-average alignment currently favors sellers.

Fundamentals and valuation

For the four quarters through June 30, 2026, Heartland Express reported Revenue of $736.3 million, a decline of 21.0% from a year earlier and a decline of 23.5% from one quarter earlier. Diluted earnings per share for that period were $-0.28, and gross margin was 7.5% compared with 9.2% a year earlier. Operating margin improved to 6.7% from 4.7% a year earlier.

Quarterly revenue by period end. The latest quarter brought $184M, 12.5% less than the same quarter a year earlier.

Free-cash-flow margin was 11.6% and return on invested capital registered 4.0%. The balance sheet showed net debt of 0.8 times EBITDA, and share count over one year decreased by 0.9%.

On valuation metrics, the stock traded at 70.0 times expected earnings on a price to forward earnings basis, and offered a free-cash-flow yield of 10.1%. PromtFinance scores ranked the company 49 in Value (Neutral), 10 in Growth (Very weak), 22 in Quality (Very weak), 47 in Momentum (Neutral), 34 in Revisions (Weak) and 69 in Stability (Positive) within the sector. The combination of a high price-to-forward-earnings multiple and a relatively strong free-cash-flow yield reflects mixed signals: valuation appears rich versus earnings expectations, while cash generation metrics are more constructive.

Earnings and analyst expectations

Heartland Express reported third-quarter 2026 Operating Revenue of $179.5 million and Net Income of $1.0 million, producing Basic EPS of $0.01 for the quarter, according to GlobeNewsWire and Zacks Investment Research. The company said its Operating Ratio improved by 500 basis points versus Q3 2025 to 98.7%, and Non-GAAP Operating Ratio was 97.6%.

Diluted earnings per share by quarter. The latest quarter shows $0.14, against -$0.14 in the same quarter a year earlier.

The company reported earnings per share of $0.01 against $0.03 expected for the session on October 20, 2026, a shortfall described as 62.1% below estimates. Analysts’ consensus price target was $13.25, which was 29.0% above the closing price on October 20, 2026. Twenty-two analysts had ratings on the stock, the consensus rating was Hold, and 18% of those ratings were Buy or Strong Buy.

The firm had zero consecutive quarters beating estimates, and the average surprise over the last four reports was described as 100.0% above estimates. The stock’s typical two-day reaction after recent reports was that it fell 0.5%, so the current move was larger than its recent norm. Going forward, investors will likely focus on whether the operating-ratio improvements continue to offset the revenue declines, and whether analyst estimates are revised following the quarterly shortfall.

What to watch

October 29, 2026: next scheduled report.
Operating Ratio and Non-GAAP Operating Ratio trends following the reported 500 basis point improvement versus Q3 2025.
Revenue trends after the reported Operating Revenue of $179.5 million and the year-over-year decline of 21.0% for the four quarters through June 30, 2026.
Any changes to analyst estimates and the consensus price target of $13.25 from the 22 analysts covering the stock.

Full HTLD analysis: scores, chart and financials →