What Happened?
A number of stocks fell in the afternoon session after WTI crude jumped 3% to above $105 per barrel and Brent surged 5% to over $114, following the UAE's interception of Iranian missiles and renewed concerns about the Strait of Hormuz.
Fuel is the single largest variable cost line for trucking, rail, and parcel operators, and the sharp move higher immediately compresses operating margins unless carriers can pass through fuel surcharges quickly which is harder in a softening freight environment.
Furthermore, with jet fuel reportedly trading near $4.56 per gallon, nearly double pre-war levels, and analysts warning of potential rationing in Asia and Europe, the entire global logistics chain faced both a cost shock and a routing problem.
The stock market overreacts to news, and big price drops can present good opportunities to buy high-quality stocks.
Among others, the following stocks were impacted:
- Ground Transportation company Heartland Express (NASDAQ: HTLD) fell 6.3%. Is now the time to buy Heartland Express? Access our full analysis report here, it’s free.
- Air Freight and Logistics company Expeditors (NYSE: EXPD) fell 5.5%. Is now the time to buy Expeditors? Access our full analysis report here, it’s free.
Zooming In On Heartland Express (HTLD)
Heartland Express’s shares are quite volatile and have had 17 moves greater than 5% over the last year. In that context, today’s move indicates the market considers this news meaningful but not something that would fundamentally change its perception of the business.
The previous big move we wrote about was 10 days ago when the stock gained 9.5% on the news that the company reported first-quarter 2026 financial results that surpassed Wall Street's expectations, signaling improved operational performance.
Although the trucking company posted a net loss of $4.8 million, or 6 cents per share, this was a significant improvement from the 18-cent loss per share in the same period of the previous year and much better than the 13-cent loss analysts had predicted. While revenue of $176.3 million was down from the prior year, it also came in ahead of estimates. The company's adjusted operating ratio, a key measure of efficiency, improved compared to the previous year. CEO Mike Gerdin noted that the company had “begun to see some encouraging signs related to market capacity reductions and freight demand improvements.” Following the report, analysts at both UBS and Baird raised their price targets on the stock, reinforcing positive investor sentiment.
Heartland Express is up 36.6% since the beginning of the year, and at $12.50 per share, it is trading close to its 52-week high of $13.57 from April 2026. Despite the year-to-date gain, investors who bought $1,000 worth of Heartland Express’s shares 5 years ago would now be looking at only $653.71.
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