UPDATE: Piper Jaffray Cutting Price Target On Knight Transportation (KNX)

Piper Jaffray is cutting its price target on shares of Knight Transportation KNX to $21 from $22 after it reported earnings. It has a Neutral rating. In a note to clients, Piper Jaffray writes, "Yesterday before the market KNX reported 1Q11 EPS of $0.12 (-20.5% y-o-y) below our $0.17 est and Consensus $0.16. Downside to our est resulted from greater than anticipated op costs, mainly salaries, purchased transportation ($0.045/share) and lower than expected rev ex fuel (half a penny). Our sense is greater exposure to West Coast Freight hauls and operational inefficiencies were core downside drivers versus inclement winter weather and fuel, which have had a more modest impact on Transports that have thus far reported 1Q11 results. Bellwether KNX is underperforming its peers in what is an improving Freight environment. Further, we believe aggressive Brokerage growth could now be taking mgmt focus away from core TL ops. While our EPS are going lower we retain our Neutral rating on valuation." Shares of KNX lost 53 cents yesterday to close at $18.18, a loss of 2.8%.