J.B. Hunt Transport Services reported better-than-expected third-quarter results Wednesday after the market closed, sending shares 11.9% higher in after-hours trading.
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The multimodal transportation provider posted consolidated revenue of $3.05 billion, which was roughly flat year over year and just slightly ahead of a $3.02 billion consensus estimate.
However, effective cost control pushed operating income up 8% y/y and earnings per share 18% higher to $1.76, 30 cents above analysts’ expectations. (A lower tax rate was a 3-cent tailwind to the EPS result.)
Margins improved y/y across J.B. Hunt’s (NASDAQ: JBHT) intermodal, dedicated and brokerage segments, with final mile and truckload seeing modest declines.
Intermodal revenue was down 2% y/y as loads and revenue per load fell slightly. (Both loads and revenue per load improved 3% sequentially.)
The unit reported a 91.8% operating ratio (inverse of operating margin), which was 100 basis points better than the year-ago quarter, and 150 bps better than the second quarter. The company credited better network balance and fewer empty moves for the improvement.
Dedicated revenue increased 2% y/y as a 3% increase in revenue per truck per week was only partially offset by a small decline in the average truck count. The segment recorded an 87.9% OR, which was 80 bps better y/y (100 bps better sequentially).
Operating losses in the company’s brokerage operations narrowed in the quarter to $752,000.
J.B. Hunt will host a call at 5 p.m. EDT on Wednesday to discuss third-quarter results.
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