MIAMI--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Apr 23, 2026--
Ryder System, Inc. (NYSE: R) reported results for the three months ended March 31 as follows:
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Total and operating revenue for the three months ended March 31 were as follows:
CEO Comment
“The Ryder team delivered solid first quarter results that exceeded our expectations,” says Ryder Chief Executive Officer John Diez. “Outperformance was driven by used vehicle sales results in FMS. Our results continue to demonstrate the earnings power and resiliency of our transformed business model.
“We’re encouraged by the positive momentum in contractual sales, with record sales performance continuing in SCS and stronger sales in FMS and DTS. We also experienced improving trends in used vehicle sales, and rental demand reflected historical seasonal patterns.
“Year-over-year earnings growth in FMS was driven primarily by higher contractual results, reflecting benefits from our ongoing execution on strategic initiatives. SCS delivered another quarter of strong earnings performance, although results were down relative to a record quarter in the prior year. DTS continued to be impacted by a lower fleet count due to a prolonged freight downturn.
“We remain confident that Ryder will benefit from a meaningful earnings uplift by the next cycle peak, with the largest impact expected in our transactional rental and used vehicle sales businesses.
“The structural changes embedded in our transformed model are enabling the business to deliver solid ROE of 17% in the current environment. In addition, the earnings power of our high-quality contractual portfolio continues to generate higher operating cash flow and increased capital deployment capacity, enabling us to fund profitable growth while returning capital to shareholders.”
First Quarter 2026 Segment Review
Fleet Management Solutions: Earnings Growth Driven by Contractual Business Performance
Supply Chain Solutions: Earnings Primarily Reflect Lower Automotive Results
Dedicated Transportation Solutions: Earnings Reflect Lower Fleet Count Partially Offset by Execution on Strategic Initiatives
Corporate Financial Information
Tax Rate
Our effective income tax rate from continuing operations was 21.0%, as compared to 26.8% in the prior year. Our comparable effective income tax rate (a non-GAAP measure) from continuing operations was 20.9%, as compared to 25.6% in the prior year. The decrease in the tax rates was primarily due to excess tax benefits on stock-based compensation in the first quarter of 2026.
Capital Expenditures, Cash Flow, and Leverage
Capital expenditures decreased to $409 million in 2026 compared to $536 million in 2025, primarily reflecting the timing of ChoiceLease fleet replacement and reduced investments in the rental fleet.
Net cash provided by operating activities from continuing operations was $583 million, compared to $651 million in 2025, primarily reflecting higher working capital needs. Free cash flow (non-GAAP) of $273 million, compared to $259 million in 2025, primarily reflecting reduced cash capital expenditures partially offset by lower cash provided by operating activities.
Debt-to-equity as of March 31, 2026 was 269%, up from year-end 2025, and is in the company's long-term target of 250% to 300%.
Outlook
“We are on track for another year of earnings growth in 2026, driven by execution on $70 million in incremental benefits from strategic initiatives,” says Ryder Chief Financial Officer Cristina Gallo-Aquino. “We are raising our EPS forecast range to reflect stronger than expected first-quarter performance and our expectations for modest improvement in used vehicle market conditions.
“Free cash flow is expected to remain strong in 2026, and we expect our capital deployment capacity to continue to enable us to support profitable growth while returning capital to shareholders through share repurchases and dividends.”
Supplemental Company Information
Business Description
Ryder System, Inc. is a leading supply chain, dedicated transportation, and fleet management solutions company. Ryder's stock (NYSE: R) is a component of the Dow Jones Transportation Average and the S&P MidCap 400 ® index. The company's financial performance is reported in the following three, inter-related business segments:
For more information on Ryder System, Inc., visit investors.ryder.com and ryder.com.
Note: Regarding Forward-Looking Statements
Certain statements and information included in this news release are "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements include, among others, statements regarding: our forecast and outlook; market conditions, including macroeconomic uncertainty and geopolitical events; rental demand and utilization; used vehicle sales volume and pricing; the freight cycle, including the impact of the prolonged downturn, cycle timing and the pace and strength of any recovery; expected financial performance, including total and operating revenue, EPS and comparable EPS, adjusted ROE, earnings before income tax, net cash provided by operating activities from continuing operations, free cash flow, capital expenditures, debt-to-equity, and the underlying drivers of change; expectations regarding continued execution of our business model; pricing actions and maintenance cost savings initiatives; long-term growth opportunities and secular growth trends; used vehicle inventory levels and fleet size; growth and continued strong earnings performance in our contractual businesses; the omnichannel retail network; our capital deployment capacity; our ability to increase returns and create long-term value; and our ability to return capital to shareholders, including through share repurchases and dividends. Our forward-looking statements also include estimates regarding the impact of residual value assumptions on earnings and depreciation expense. These estimates are based, in part, on our current assessment of the residual values and useful lives of revenue-earning equipment informed by multi-year trends and our outlook for near- and long-term used vehicle market conditions. A variety of factors, many of which are outside of our control, could cause residual value estimates to differ from actual used vehicle sales pricing, such as changes in supply and demand of used vehicles; volatility in market conditions; changes in vehicle technology; competitor pricing; regulatory requirements, including changes to taxes or tariffs; driver shortages; customer requirements and preferences; and changes in underlying assumption factors.
All of our forward-looking statements should be evaluated by considering the many risks and uncertainties inherent in our business that could cause actual results and events to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements. Important factors that could cause such differences include: changes and uncertainty regarding financial, economic and market conditions in the U.S. and worldwide; supply chain and labor challenges and vehicle production constraints, including original equipment manufacturer (OEM) delays; the effect of geopolitical events; our ability to adapt to changing market conditions, including lower than expected contractual sales, decreases in rental demand or utilization, poor acceptance of rental pricing, declining market demand for or excess supply of used vehicles impacting current or estimated pricing, and our anticipated proportion of retail versus wholesale sales; declining customer demand for our services; higher than expected maintenance costs; lower than expected benefits from our cost-savings initiatives; our ability to effectively and efficiently integrate acquisitions into our business; lower than expected benefits from our sales, marketing and new product initiatives; setbacks in the economic market or in our ability to retain profitable customer accounts; impact of changing laws and regulations, such as taxes, tariffs, trade restrictions or trade agreements, including the impact to our customers and partners; difficulty in obtaining adequate profit margins for our services; inability to maintain current pricing levels due to, for example, economic conditions, business interruptions, expenditures, labor disputes and extreme weather or other natural occurrences; competition from other service providers; changes in technology and new entrants; professional driver and technician shortages resulting in higher procurement costs and turnover rates; impact of supply chain disruptions; higher than expected bad debt reserves or write-offs; decrease in credit ratings; increased debt costs; adequacy of accounting estimates; higher than expected reserves and accruals particularly with respect to pension, taxes, insurance and revenue; impact of changes in our residual value estimates and accounting policies, including our depreciation policy; unanticipated changes in fuel and alternative energy prices; unanticipated currency exchange rate fluctuations; fluctuations in inflation or interest rates; our ability to manage our cost structure; the inability of our information technology systems to provide timely and accurate access to data or of our information security program to safeguard our or our stakeholders' data; and the risks described in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The risks included here are not exhaustive. New risks emerge from time to time, and it is not possible for management to predict all such risk factors or to assess the impact of such risks on our business. Accordingly, we undertake no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.
Note: Regarding Non-GAAP Financial Measures
This news release includes certain non-GAAP financial measures as defined under SEC rules. Refer to Appendix - Non-GAAP Financial Measure Reconciliations at the end of the tables following this press release for reconciliations to the most comparable GAAP measure. Additional information regarding non-GAAP financial measures as required by Regulation G and Item 10(e) of Regulation S-K can be found in our most recent Form 10-K, Form 10-Q and Form 8-K filed with the SEC as of the date of this release, which are available atinvestors.ryder.com.
CONFERENCE CALL AND WEBCAST INFORMATION
Ryder’s earnings conference call and webcast is scheduled for April 23, 2026 at 11:00 a.m. ET. To join, click here.
LIVE AUDIO VIA PHONE
WEBCAST REPLAY
An audio replay including the slide presentation will be available within four hours following the call. Click here, then select Financials/Quarterly Results and the date.
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Ryder is a leader in supply chain, dedicated transportation, and fleet management solutions.
