Forward Air is putting its plans to sell its intermodal operations on hold, a sign of shifting strategic priorities for the company as it builds on its financial recovery.

The U.S. transportation and logistics provider announced the news Monday with its third-quarter earnings. During a conference call with analysts, management said the intermodal business was "back on track," and said the company would continue to consider proposals for its acquisition, as long as they reflect the unit's "fair value."

The decision follows a strategic review that began in early 2025, during which Forward Air began exploring options that included the sale of selected operations or the company in its entirety. This review comes as pressure mounts from investors in the wake of the much contested merger with Omni Logistics.

Investors were at the time closely examining the financial and operational implications of the combination and this was pressuring management to rethink the company’s structure and asset portfolio.

Then a large customer development made the original strategy complicated. During Forward Air’s second-quarter earnings call in August, the company said plans to sell the entire enterprise to private equity investors were scuttled by the potential loss of a contract logistics customer.

The account was 10% of annual revenue, or about $250 million. Management's response was to concentrate on selling the intermodal division and two smaller businesses acquired in the Omni transaction.

Since then, Forward Air has signed a new two-year agreement, set to run through 2028, that will preserve a large portion of the previously at-risk customer relationship.

The deal allows the customer to divert some business elsewhere between November and March. Forward Air, however, expects revenue from the retained portion of that account to increase to ultimately exceed the revenue that customer generated in 2025 .

The company also finalized the sale of both smaller Omni business units targeted for divestiture.

With those transactions behind it and operating performance improving, management appears more focused on rebuilding the business than an immediate sale of its remaining intermodal operations.

Third-quarter results underscore improving financial momentum

Forward Air’s recent financial results provide additional confirmation of the progress achieved in its recovery efforts.

Consolidated revenue was $674 million, an increase of 7% compared to the same quarter last year. Adjusted EBITDA grew even faster, rising 31% from a year ago to $101 million.

The gain was helped by the faster split of the company, including its less-than-truckload, or LTL, business.

Revenue from the segment was $337 million, up 31% from the prior year. Total tonnage grew 16%, with both the number of shipments and the average weight per shipment up 8% and 7%, respectively.

Excluding fuel, yield was down 3% from the prior-year period on stronger volumes. The increase in shipment weights had a significant negative effect on this metric.

Revenue per shipment excluding fuel moved in the opposite direction, up 4% year over year.

Profitability improved significantly Adjusted EBITDA for Expedited division grew 52% and adjusted EBITDA margin expanded 190 basis points to 13.3%.

Omni Logistics also had mixed but encouraging results. Revenue fell 8% to $312 million from a year ago, but adjusted EBITDA rose 8% to $35 million. Adjusted EBITDA margin for the division increased 170 basis points to 11.3%.

The intermodal business was one of the better stories of the quarter. It reported revenue growth of 9% year over year to $63 million, and an EBITDA margin of 8.2%, an increase of 110 basis points from the same period last year.

Forward Air's key performance indicators

Forward Air

Q3/26

Q3/25

Y/Y Gross Change

Y/Y % Change

Expedited Freight:

Network

$242.0

$194.0

$48.0

24.7%

Truckload

$67.5

$42.4

$25.1

59.3%

Other

$27.8

$22.1

$5.7

25.8%

Total Revenue

$337.4

$258.6

$78.9

30.5%

Shipments/Day

12,300

11,400

900

7.9%

Weight/Shipment (pounds)

899

841

58

6.9%

Tonnage (pounds/day)

11,061,000

9,570,000

1,491,000

15.6%

Revenue per Shipment (ex fuel)

$219.01

$209.99

$9.02

4.3%

Revenue per Hundredweight (ex fuel)

$24.34

$24.98

-$0.64

-2.6%

Operating Income

$36.5

$19.4

$17.0

87.5%

Operating Margin %

10.8%

7.5%

329 bps

43.7%

Adjusted EBITDA

$45.0

$29.6

$15.4

52.1%

Adjusted EBITDA Margin %

13.3%

11.5%

189 bps

16.5%

Omni Logistics:

Revenue

$312.3

$339.6

-$27.3

-8.0%

Adjusted Operating Income

$12.2

$9.7

$2.5

25.2%

Adjusted Operating Margin %

3.9%

2.9%

104 bps

36.1%

Adjusted EBITDA

$35.3

$32.6

$2.7

8.4%

Adjusted EBITDA Margin %

11.3%

9.6%

172 bps

17.9%

Intermodal:

Revenue

$63.5

$58.3

$5.1

8.8%

Drayage Shipments

62,028

60,976

1,052

1.7%

Drayage Revenue per Shipment

$986

$864

$122

14.1%

Operating Income

$5.2

$4.1

$1.1

26.4%

Operating Margin %

8.2%

7.0%

114 bps

16.2%

Consolidated:

Revenue

$673.9

$631.8

$42.1

6.7%

Adjusted Operating Income

$43.9

$15.0

$28.9

192.5%

Adjusted Operating Margin %

6.5%

2.4%

414 bps

174.2%

Adjusted EBITDA (per debt agreement)

$101.5

$77.7

$23.8

30.7%

EPS

$0.34

-$0.52

$0.86

NM

Revenue, operating income and EBITDA in millions.

Leverage continues to fall and liquidity improves

Forward Air also improved its balance sheet position, as well as its operating performance, although the company continues to carry a heavy debt load.

Operating cash flow was $51 million in the quarter, down $28 million from the year ago period. The company said part of the comparison was tied to transaction and integration expenses taken in the period.

Liquidity, however, improved to $446 million, an increase of $45 million from the previous quarter. This improvement was also supported, in part, by proceeds and other benefits arising from the asset sales previously completed.

Net debt at the close of the quarter was $1.6 billion. That was 4.7 times adjusted EBITDA for the trailing 12 months, which was $342 million.

At the end of the second quarter, the leverage ratio increased to 5.2 times and remained under the company’s debt covenant threshold of 5.75 times.

“The reduction in leverage is a major milestone for Forward Air as it continues to work through the financial implications of its merger with Omni Logistics while pursuing a more broad-based operational recovery.

Quarterly update gets positive investor reaction. Forward Air (NASDAQ: FWRD) shares rose 7.7% in after-hours trading Monday.

Why it is important

Forward Air’s latest results provide a somewhat rare view of the economics of airport-to-airport ground transportation in an LTL model.

The restructuring of the company after its merger with Omni Logistics serves, more generally, as an example of the financial and operational challenges associated with large-scale consolidation within the logistics industry.

Key elements in the recovery process include retaining key customers, improving margins, managing debt and deciding which business units should remain within the group.

The decision to suspend the planned intermodal sale indicates management believes it can realize more value by allowing the operation to continue to recover than by accepting a potentially unattractive offer.

But Forward Air hasn’t ruled out a transaction. It is open to sensible proposals that represent fair value and if the market and potential offers are right, a divestiture is possible at some time.