PAMT Corp (PAMT) 2005 Q1 法說會逐字稿

Good day, everyone, and welcome to P.A.M. Transportation Services first-quarter earnings conference call. As a reminder, today's call is being recorded.

Statements in this release which are not historical facts are forward-looking and involve risks and uncertainties, including but not limited to, the impact of competitive products on pricing, increased investment to support product introductions, market acceptance of products, product transitions by the Company and its competitors, currency fluctuations, changes in product sales mix and other risks described in the Company's registration statement and other Securities and Exchange Commission filings. At this time, I would like to turn the conference over to Bob Weaver. Please go ahead, sir.

Good afternoon and welcome, all, to the first-quarter '05 PTSI conference call for our earnings release. Let me start by saying that we certainly appreciate the patience that you all had, hanging with us over the last few quarters; and I know you've heard me sit up here and expound on what we were doing to make changes to change things around, and your patience is beginning to pay off as we are beginning to see the results that we expected from the changes we made.

And as all of you are well aware, I don't make a lot of comments at the beginning of the conference call because I think it's more important to try to hone in on you all's questions and get your questions answered. So with that said, I'll go ahead and open the conference up for your questions.

(OPERATOR INSTRUCTIONS). Neil Gagnon with Gagnon Securities.

Good morning, Bob, or good afternoon. It appears that you are righting the ship, to use that phrase. What's the thoughts about how you're going to get this thing growing again and not just for the next quarter, but the next two or three years?

Well I think we're going to -- once we feel very confident that we've got the ship righted, as you so aptly put it, we'll see the growth come from where we've seen the majority of the growth come from in the past, and that's acquisitions. We have not set idly by and not talked with potential candidates during this period of time. We've got ongoing dialogues. And our plan is to continue to grow by acquisition and that's driven to a large degree because the driver market is still very tight. And to go buy equipment and try to add the drivers to man that equipment, I think is too long of a timeframe to suite what we're looking for. So I think you'll see the additional growth come from acquisition.

Okay. Thanks.

(OPERATOR INSTRUCTIONS). It appears we have no further questions at this time, but I'd like to give everyone a final opportunity to signal by pressing star one now if you do have a question.

You all don't be bashful. I'm surprised.

We'll take a follow-up from Neil Gagnon.

Maybe I'm the only guy who's around today at two o'clock, Bob.

Maybe so. I know there's more than you on the call.

I know that. Let me throw a couple of these at you. Fuel -- we see the adder (ph) this quarter. Where are you on getting the fuel costs correct for your Company? And what should be normalized profit margins for you? If this is running reasonably well (ph)?

If I understand your question correctly, what would we have put more to the bottom line if we had been able to recover all the fuel cost?

Well not if you could recover all, but if you could recover what's reasonable, because you're not ever going to get all.

Well, and I agree with what you're saying. I guess the best way to give you that information is to tell you that in the first -- in this quarter, we still pick our fuel surcharge for many of our customers at the first of the month and as you are well aware, fuel continued to rise during the month. So we did not recover that increase that we saw from the first to the end of the month.

And from a sheer cost standpoint on an earnings basis, after tax, it was $0.075 per share if we had recovered all of it. Realistically, if and when fuel ever settles down, I think we could reasonably expect to see half of that recover on a normal basis.

Okay, okay. Good. While I have you, let me throw in one more. The repurchase program, what's the thoughts by management?

Well, one, we think that the stock is terribly undervalued, and we think it's an attractive buy for us. We understand that the float is still a little low out there. But at the same time, we're not opposed to making a purchase that we think is a wise thing to do. Obviously, depending on the amount we purchase, it will change the earnings to some degree as well. We think it's a good move for us because of where the stock is valued at.

Okay. And one more. What's your sense of business, Bob, in the short-term? You know, in the next three to six, nine months?

Well, it appears to have stabilized pretty well. We still see some areas where demand is a little bit soft at the beginning of a week. We'll put more trucks in a particular area the first of the week than we will later in the week. So we see a few areas of softness, but for the most part, they've all leveled out.

From a standpoint of I guess our big customers, we're not at liberty to discuss what their plans in the future are. But we anticipate pretty much going forward with them what we've seen in the first quarter.

Okay. I'll give someone else a chance here, Bob.

Okay. I'm not sure anybody else wants a chance, Neil.

(OPERATOR INSTRUCTIONS).

Sean, I think we're all done.

It appears we have no further questions. I'll turn it back to you for any additional or closing remarks.

Okay. I guess I'm scratching my head why there weren't more questions about other things. But my guess is we'll hear the phone ring shortly. So anyway, I appreciate you all participating in the call.

That does conclude today's conference. Thank you for joining. Have a great day.