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# Landstar CFO Calls $35 Million A Quarter In Insurance Costs 'Too Light' After $22 Million Hit
- URL: https://www.bullished.co/landstar-cfo-calls-35-million-a-quarter-in-insurance-costs-too-light-after-22-million-hit-404943c5/
- Published: 2026-10-27T21:56:17.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-27T21:56:17.000Z
- Description: Jim Todd said $55 million a quarter probably feels too heavy, as Landstar stops guiding on insurance and claims.
- Author: Matteo Parrino
- Tags: Earnings, LSTR, Industry: Industrials

Landstar Chief Financial Officer Jim Todd said on the company's third-quarter earnings call Tuesday that $35 million a quarter in insurance and claims costs "feels probably too light these days," while $55 million "probably feels too heavy." The trucking logistics company booked [$22 million](https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2026/10/27/3389612/0/en/landstar-system-reports-third-quarter-revenue-of-1-512b-and-earnings-per-share-of-1-42.html?ref=bullished.co) of net unfavorable adjustments to prior-year claim estimates in the quarter.

## Where the insurance bill landed

[Landstar](https://www.bullished.co/tag/lstr/), which arranges freight for shippers through independent sales agents and outside truck operators rather than owning most of the trucks, reported insurance and claims costs of [$55.3 million](https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2026/10/27/3389612/0/en/landstar-system-reports-third-quarter-revenue-of-1-512b-and-earnings-per-share-of-1-42.html?ref=bullished.co) in the third quarter, against $33 million a year earlier. Of the net prior-year adjustment, about $13 million, or 29 cents a share, came from an outside actuary's review, and about $8 million, or 18 cents a share, came from settling two claims.

The settlements were a $5 million charge on a truck brokerage claim in what CEO Frank Lonegro called an adversarial venue, and a $3 million charge on a fourth-quarter 2025 accident involving an independent truck owner leased to a subsidiary. Todd said two other brokerage claims settled within reserves set in the second quarter, and that the company now puts the two fourth-quarter 2025 crashes at $14 million, up from an $11 million reserve.

## A run rate without guidance

An Evercore ISI analyst asked why the [$13 million](https://seekingalpha.com/news/4658371-landstar-system-non-gaap-eps-of-142-misses-by-024-revenue-of-151b-beats-by-10m?ref=bullished.co) was not stripped out of the non-standard-accounting table, and whether a clean base was nearer $47 million. Todd said Landstar no longer gives insurance guidance and called any 90-day period "very lumpy." He said the company would "continue to book to those higher loss estimates prospectively."

He offered reference points: a trailing four-quarter average of about $46 million a quarter, and a six-quarter average of $41 million to $42 million. Reserves for claims incurred but not reported rose 27% in gross dollars from the fourth quarter of 2022 to the fourth quarter of 2025, he said, and 73% per truck on a shrinking truck count. Landstar's insurance guidance began in 2016 at 3.2% of independent-owner revenue and ended near 7%.

## Strong freight, costly claims

Revenue rose 25% from a year earlier, with truck revenue up 29% to $1.407 billion. Lonegro said that without the insurance line, the quarter would have given management plenty of good news to report.

The company's actuary reviews reserves twice a year, at the third- and fourth-quarter balance sheet dates. Landstar reports fourth-quarter results in late January, and the board declared a 44-cent dividend payable December 8.

Landstar's next call, in late January, will show how the fourth-quarter actuarial review landed against Todd's $35 million to $55 million bracket.

### Sources

- [Landstar Stock Gears Up to Report Q3 Earnings: Is A Beat in Store?](https://finance.yahoo.com/markets/stocks/articles/landstar-stock-gears-report-q3-181100958.html?ref=bullished.co) — Yahoo Finance
- [Landstar System Non-GAAP EPS of $1.42 misses by $0.24, revenue of $1.51B beats by $10M (LSTR:NASDAQ)](https://seekingalpha.com/news/4658371-landstar-system-non-gaap-eps-of-142-misses-by-024-revenue-of-151b-beats-by-10m?ref=bullished.co) — seekingalpha.com
- [Landstar System Reports Third Quarter Revenue of $1.512B](https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2026/10/27/3389612/0/en/landstar-system-reports-third-quarter-revenue-of-1-512b-and-earnings-per-share-of-1-42.html?ref=bullished.co) — globenewswire.com

### More on Landstar System

- [Landstar Third-Quarter EPS Jumps 154% To $1.42, But Insurance Costs Climb To $55.3 Million](https://www.bullished.co/landstar-third-quarter-eps-jumps-154-to-1-42-but-insurance-costs-climb-to-55-3-million-00af1427/)

[All Landstar System (LSTR) coverage →](https://www.bullished.co/tag/lstr/)