Earnings Preview For C.H. Robinson Worldwide (CHRW, DB)

C.H. Robinson Worldwide CHRW is expected to announce its Q1 earnings results on Tuesday, April 26, after the markets close. Analysts are expecting earnings per share to reach $0.60, an increase of 20% from the previous year's level of $0.50. Two months ago, analysts increased their Q1 earnings estimate by $0.01. C.H. Robinson Worldwide is a North Dakota-based third-party logistics company. It provides freight transportation services and logistics solutions to companies of all sizes in a variety of industries. It operates through a network of 235 offices (which it calls branches) in North America, Europe, Asia, South America, Australia, and the Middle East. It has developed global multimodal transportation and distribution networks to provide logistics services worldwide. C.H. Robinson does not own the transportation equipment that is used to transport its customers' freight. Through its contractual relationships with approximately 47,000 transportation companies, including motor carriers, railroads (primarily intermodal service providers), air freight and ocean carriers, it selects and hires the appropriate transportation to meet its customers' freight needs. It is a Fortune 500 company, currently employing over 7,500 people. Deutsche Bank has recently upgraded its outlook of C.H. Robinson's shares to a “buy” rating. Deutsche Bank recently said that it believes the market is “missing the strength of CHRW's business model and how its business model reacts to a tightening of TL capacity, rising fuel prices, and increasing TL rates.” “Shares of CHRW are now trading at a 1.5% discount to its 10-year average P/E multiple (26.9x) and we see EPS growth accelerating in 2011-12E as the company should benefit from rising volumes as shippers increasingly leverages CHRW's brokerage network as the large asset-based transportation capacity is now limited,” Deutsche Bank writes. Revenues are expected to go up by 15% in the next quarter, to stand at $2.68 billion. Investors will be hoping that strong Q1 results can further justify Deutsche Bank's optimism. C.H. Robinson's shares have gained 5% following Deutsche Bank's upgrade, to end last week $78.04.