Dave Bozeman, chief executive officer of C.H. Robinson.Source: C.H. Robinson
As Dave Bozeman takes the stage at his first investor day as CEO of C.H. Robinson, he'll have to contend with a freight recession, the threat of higher tariffs and the turnaround of a century-old logistics giant.
"I want to lay out our vision and that we actually already started executing," Bozeman told CNBC in an exclusive interview ahead of the company's investor day on Thursday. "We are going to grow market share, and we are going to expand our overall operating margins."
On Thursday executives of the shipping company will present new financial targets, answer questions about its shift to a lean operating model, and provide an update on the business conditions, including the potential impact of President-elect Donald Trump's proposed tariffs.
Trump has said he'll impose 60% tariffs on goods from China and 25% tariffs on goods from Mexico and Canada. That could have a material impact on C.H. Robinson, which transports goods around the world for almost 100,000 clients.
C.H. Robinson's main business segments include global forwarding, often referred to as freight brokerage between the U.S. and other regions; and North American surface transportation, which is primarily moving freight over land.
Analysts estimate C.H. Robinson is a top 3 carrier on the China-U.S. freight lane, and the company says it carries about 10% of the freight on the U.S.-Mexico lane.
"Some shippers will say, 'We will take on that tariff.' The economics of that volume will probably change in pricing and things like that. Either way we're still going to move that freight," Bozeman said. "The freight still has to move. It might just move at a different starting point, and we would still be there to move that."
Citi transportation analyst Ari Rosa upgraded C.H. Robinson to a buy rating in November. He believes tariffs are creating a short-term pull forward of freight and agrees with Bozeman that, long term, the company has the ability to mitigate the impact of potential tariffs.
"There's no question that their global forwarding business is very exposed to China," Rosa told CNBC. "But I do think that their business is diversified enough that they can work through tariffs."