Trucking KPIs Mid-Month Update: Truckload Recovery Continues To Build Momentum

Research evidence excerpt

Trucking KPIs Mid-Month Update: Truckload Recovery Continues To Build Momentum

Truist Securities

Equity Research Report May 19, 2026

INDUSTRIALS: Freight & Logistics

Trucking KPIs Mid-Month Update:

Truckload Recovery Continues To Build Lucas Servera

404-439-7688 Momentum Lucas.Servera@truist.com

We continue to favor LTL equities following the recent pullback in transportation stocks,

as improving freight KPIs, tightening industry capacity, and expanding industrial activity

Daniel Ighodaro increasingly support a more durable freight recovery into 2H26. In our view, ODFL and

404-439-7388 XPO remain among the best-positioned names to benefit from a cyclical recovery in Daniel.Ighodaro@truist.com

industrial-freight demand and generate operating leverage.

17 Page Document

Please see pages 3-10 for data visualization across figures 1-20

Reasons for this report How to Play The Space: In our view, Freight metrics (TRR, LTTR, Spot Rates) continue to move decisively in the right direction through mid-May, further supporting out view that

✓ Sector Update the truckload market is progressing through the later innings of the freight recession.

Importantly, tightening capacity conditions continue to outweigh still-modest freight ✓ Data-Driven Analysis

demand, driving improving spot market conditions and reinforcing confidence in a more Trucking KPIs Monthly Update: April 2026 &

durable trucking recovery into 2H26. Following the recent sell-off across transportation

May To Date equities, we continue to favor LTL carriers (Buy-rated ODFL and XPO), which we believe

offer the most compelling cyclical upside as industrial production recovers and weight

per shipment trends improve.

Tender Rejection Rates: Tender rejection rates continued to trend higher through April