RXO Reports More Than 10% Growth in Profit per Load, While Third-Quarter Results Remain Preliminary
Key Facts
RXO has not released its final results for the third quarter of 2026, but in a preliminary update it said gross profit per truckload rose more than 10% in August compared with July, exceeding its previous forecast. The update appeared in a company statement filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, while quarter-end closing procedures are still underway. RXO said the results were not complete and could differ materially from the final figures. The disclosed operating indicators therefore do not represent a final report on quarterly revenue or earnings. The statement described the improvement in profit per load as an early indicator of full truckload performance in the quarter.
RXO said spot freight accounted for about 50% of its truckload shipments during the first two months of the third quarter. That puts spot-market activity at the center of the volume mix reported by the company, alongside the improvement in profit per load in August. The figure means nearly half of the cited shipment volume came through this segment during the period, according to company data. The available update provided no other numerical breakdown of the contribution of other freight types to volume or profitability. These indicators should not be treated as the outcome for the full quarter: the spot-market share covers only the first two months, while the profit-per-load figure compares August with July.
The company maintained its forecast for third-quarter truckload shipment volume growth in the low-to-mid single digits year over year, despite continued weakness in freight demand. The forecast is an estimate of activity volume, not an announcement of revenue or earnings growth. RXO had said that the improvement in gross profit per load in August exceeded its previous forecast, without implying that quarterly results were complete. In the company’s outlook published after its second-quarter results, adjusted EBITDA for the third quarter was expected to range from $35 million to $45 million. That range remains a stated forecast, while the company said quarter-end closing was incomplete and preliminary figures could differ materially from final results.
The operating indicators follow a second quarter in which RXO revenue was about $1.8 billion, compared with $1.4 billion in the same period of 2025. But gross margin fell to 13.9% from 17.8% a year earlier. The company reported a GAAP net loss of $9 million in the second quarter, equal to the loss recorded in the second quarter of 2025. Adjusted net income, by contrast, was $10 million, up from $7 million in the year-earlier period. These results provide financial context for the previous period, but do not replace the final third-quarter accounts, which were incomplete when the preliminary update was issued.
The operating update comes as C.H. Robinson and RXO pursue an acquisition agreement announced on October 5. The definitive agreement calls for C.H. Robinson to acquire RXO in a cash-and-stock deal with an implied value of $5.8 billion. C.H. Robinson said it expects to complete the transaction in the first half of 2027. It also forecast net annual cost savings at a run rate of about $300 million within two years of closing, through the implementation of its AI-powered operating model. RXO’s final third-quarter results remain subject to closing procedures, while the first half of 2027 is the expected transaction completion date under the announcement.
RXO shares closed at $27.6 on October 28, 2026, according to EL7 data. The closing price followed the announcement of the acquisition agreement on October 5 and came before the final third-quarter results had been fully published in the official sources cited in the update. The available data here do not include the stock’s opening price or session high and low, so the share-price description is limited to the close. Any comparison between operating performance and the price on that date is subject to the fact that third-quarter figures are preliminary and the company said they could differ materially from final results. The published indicators include August growth in profit per load, the spot-freight share in the first two months, and the annual volume-growth forecast.