Landstar System Inc

Landstar, based in Jacksonville, Florida, arranges freight shipping for businesses, but every load travels on someone else's truck, train, plane or ship. It works through about 960 independent commission sales agents, who find and coordinate loads, and more than 70,000 outside “capacity providers,” mostly truckers. Landstar calls itself “asset-light”: it uses other operators' trucks instead of running its own fleet, so much of its cost rises and falls with revenue.

Landstar's operating subsidiaries, not the agents, contract with customers, bill them, usually per shipment, and generally carry the credit risk. Customers ship automotive parts, building products, metals, chemicals, food, heavy machinery, electronics and military equipment, among other goods. Revenue was $4.7 billion in the fiscal year ended December 27, 2025. Most of the work is in the US, with less in Canada, Mexico and across borders.

Of its two segments, transportation logistics is nearly everything. Trucking produced 91% of fiscal 2025 revenue, air and ocean freight 5%, and rail intermodal (shipments combining rail and truck) 2%. Independent truckers leased exclusively to Landstar generated 38% of revenue. Unrelated trucking companies hired through its brokerage business generated 53%. The insurance segment, about 1% of revenue, reinsures some risks of those leased truckers. In August 2025, Landstar hired an adviser to market Landstar Metro, its intra-Mexico trucking unit, for possible sale.

• In Q3 FY2026 (ended Sep 26, 2026), revenue was $1.51B, up 25.4% from a year earlier, and net income was $48.0M (+148.1%).
• For fiscal 2025, revenue was $4.74B (-1.6% year over year; +2.8% a year from FY2020 to FY2025) with a 2.4% net margin.

• Over FY2021–FY2025: $723.9M in buybacks and $590.0M in dividends.
• Regular dividends per share rose in every available year from FY2016 to FY2025, leaving out years that included a special dividend (FY2017).
• Special dividends in FY2017 are excluded from the streak.
• Regular dividends per share grew +5.0% a year over 5 years (FY2020–FY2025).
• Dividends took 108.5% of earnings and 58% of free cash flow in the latest fiscal year.
• Shares outstanding changed -9.6% from Feb 11, 2022 to Oct 19, 2026.

Rank among 1514 US companies

Market value at each year end

Landstar System’s market value went from $3.56B at the end of 2016 to $4.68B on Oct 28, 2026, up 31%; since the end of 2025 it is down 5%.

Form 4 filings from 2025-11-03 to 2026-11-03 (23 read): 1 open-market purchases ($715K) and 2 sales ($2.8M).

Large shareholders (13G filings)

ETFs with the most weight in LSTR

1. Reliance on about 960 independent agents. Independent commission sales agents, not employees, find the freight and handle most day-to-day customer contact. If agents left, especially large ones, Landstar could lose the shippers they serve.
2. Huge jury awards after truck accidents. Landstar pays the first $5 million of each commercial trucking claim itself. Jury verdicts above $10 million, called “nuclear verdicts,” have become much more common over 15 years, raising claim costs industry-wide.
3. Excess insurance is scarce and costly. Premiums for coverage above $10 million rose about $22 million, or roughly 400%, from the policy year ended April 2020 to the one ended May 2026, as such coverage became harder to find.
4. Lawsuits blaming Landstar as a broker. Accident victims increasingly sue freight brokers for “negligent selection” of the carrier. Courts were split on whether federal law blocks such claims, with a US Supreme Court case pending in February 2026.
5. Outside truckers and their contractor status. All freight moves on third-party capacity, mainly independent truckers and other trucking firms. If trucks grew scarce, or regulators or courts treated its independent contractors as employees, Landstar's costs could rise.
6. Freight slumps, trade disputes and tariffs. Revenue depends on freight volumes, which shrink in slow economies and can suffer from tariffs or strained US trade ties. Revenue fell from $7.4 billion in fiscal 2022 to $4.7 billion in fiscal 2025.

• Oct 27, 2026 Quarterly results released; Investor presentation or announcement
• Jul 28, 2026 Quarterly results released; Investor presentation or announcement
• Jul 23, 2026 Other company announcement
• Jul 6, 2026 Major agreement signed; New debt or financial obligation
• May 6, 2026 Shareholder vote results
• Apr 28, 2026 Quarterly results released; Investor presentation or announcement
• Apr 2, 2026 Executive or board change
• Jan 28, 2026 Quarterly results released; Investor presentation or announcement
• Jan 21, 2026 Quarterly results released
• Dec 4, 2025 Other company announcement

Landstar's regular dividend rose every year from fiscal 2016 through fiscal 2025, excluding fiscal 2017, which included an apparent special dividend. It reached $3.56 per share in fiscal 2025, up from $2.79 in fiscal 2020, about 5% a year. The yield was 2.62% as of October 28, 2026. That dividend was more than fiscal 2025 earnings, a 108.5% payout, but it used 58% of free cash flow (operating cash left after capital spending). From fiscal 2021 to 2025, buybacks of about $724 million topped $590 million in dividends. The share count fell 9.6% between February 2022 and October 2026.

In the 2008 financial crisis, the stock lost 53.2% and took about 36 months to recover. It fell about 22% in both the 2020 COVID crash and the 2022 bear market, recovering in about two and 7.5 months, respectively. Its worst drop in the year to October 28, 2026 was 38.3%. Single stocks carry more risk than diversified funds.