HEARTLAND EXPRESS INC. Coralville, Iowa Trucker's Steady Pace Drives Its Financial Growth.(THE NEW AMERICA)

Byline: KIRK SHINKLE

Big rigs might not be the fastest things on the highway, but they get the job done.

The same could be said of Heartland Express Inc. The trucking firm hasn't exactly burned up the earnings highway, though it has been a consistent profit generator in an industry that's hit a few potholes in recent years.

A recession doesn't help matters much. And while the consensus is that business will pick up in the second half of 2002, the better trucking firms today are the ones that kept a strict eye on costs and customers over the last several quarters.

Heartland is a midsize carrier that runs short hauls of about 500 miles, mostly east of the Rocky Mountains. It's managed to survive while many smaller, privately held rivals haven't.

"(That's) in no small way due to superior management talent and very strict cost controls," said analyst Dan Moore of Stephens Inc.

Heartland's strategy is to keep an obsessive focus on the bottom line. That means steady if unspectacular growth. When the trucking industry was hot a few years back, analysts questioned the slow-but-steady method.