Marten Transport reported improved earnings for the third quarter but most of it came from an unusual place: its brokerage division.
In a quarter in which truckload carriers Heartland Express (NASDAQ: HTLD) and P.A.M. Transport (NASDAQ: PTSI) both reported operating ratios less than 80%, the truckload OR at Marten (NASDAQ: MRTN) improved just slightly, to 88.3% from 88.7% in the third quarter of 2020. Its dedicated division did significantly worse, declining to 89.6% from 85.9% a year ago.
And...