Why Investors Bailed on U-Haul Stock Today

What happened

U-Haul Holding (NYSE:UHAL) had a Wednesday to forget on the market. The storied do-it-yourself moving specialist's share price cratered by more than 16% on the day after it published its latest set of quarterly earnings. That decline was far steeper than the 0.6% dip of the S&P 500 index.

So what

For its fourth quarter of fiscal 2023, U-Haul's consolidated revenue came in at just under $1.19 billion, which was marginally lower on a year-over-year basis. On the bottom line, net income according to generally accepted accounting standards (GAAP) fell rather steeply, declining to $37.7 million ($0.16 per share) from the fourth quarter 2022 profit of $86.7 million.

While its revenue broadly met analyst expectations, U-Haul missed badly on profitability, likely a major reason for the sharply negative market reaction. On average, prognosticators following the stock were modeling $0.50 per share for that always-critical line item.

Although its name identifies its most well-recognized asset -- the DIY moving and storage service -- U-Haul is actually a conglomerate that includes a pair of insurance companies (although these units are far smaller than the core business). Although DIY moving and storage's revenue ticked up compared to the year-ago quarter, the take for both insurance operations fell slightly.

Now what

U-Haul quoted the chairman of its board of directors, Joe Shoen, as saying, "Overall moving activity has returned to more historic trends. Self-storage is not as hot as 24 months ago, but we are still building and filling new units."

The company did not proffer any guidance in its earnings release.

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Eric Volkman has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends U-Haul. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.