J.B. Hunt Q4 Earnings Surpass Estimates, Improve Year Over Year

J.B. Hunt Transport Services, Inc. (JBHT) reported fourth-quarter 2025 earnings of $1.90 per share, which surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $1.81 and improved 24.2% year over year.Total operating revenues of $3.09 billion lagged the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $3.12 billion and were down 1.6% year over year. JBHT’s fourth-quarter revenue performance was hurt by a 2% and 4% decline in revenue per load excluding fuel surcharge revenue in Intermodal (JBI) and Truckload (JBT), respectively, a 1% decrease in average trucks in Dedicated Contract Services (DCS), and a 7% and 2% decline in load volume in Integrated Capacity Solutions (ICS) and JBI, respectively. The decline in revenue, excluding fuel surcharge revenue, was partially offset by a 15% increase in volume in JBT, a 1% increase in productivity, excluding fuel surcharge revenue, in DCS, and an increase in revenue per load in ICS. Total operating revenue, excluding fuel surcharge revenue, decreased 2% year over year.J.B. Hunt Transport Services, Inc. Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise J.B. Hunt Transport Services, Inc. price-consensus-eps-surprise-chart | J.B. Hunt Transport Services, Inc. QuoteOperating income for the reported quarter increased 19% year over year to $246.5 million. The uptick was owing to the execution of JBHT’s initiatives to structurally reduce expenses, improve productivity across the organization and lower personnel-related expenses.JBHT’s Segmental HighlightsIntermodal division generated quarterly revenues of $1.55 billion, down 3% year over year, reflecting the 2% decrease in load volume and a 1% decrease in revenue per load, resulting from changes in the mix of freight, customer rates and fuel surcharge revenue. Revenue per load, excluding fuel surcharge revenue, decreased 2% year over year. Our estimate is pegged at $1.56 billion.Intermodal volume fell 2% year over year. Transcontinental network loads fell 6%, while eastern network loads increased 5% year over year.Segmental operating income grew 16% year over year, owing to improved network balance, efficiency improvements in the drayage network and continued execution on the initiative to lower cost to serve.Dedicated Contract Services segment revenues of $843 million grew 1% year over year, owing to a 1% improvement in productivity (revenue per truck per week) partially offset by a 1% decline in average trucks. The company reported actuals stands below our estimate of $848.2 million.Segmental operating income increased 9% year over year, owing to higher revenue combined with lower insurance claims expense, continued execution on the initiative to lower cost to serve and the maturing of new business onboarded over the trailing 12 months. These items were partially offset by increased equipment-related expenses.Integrated Capacity Solutions’ revenues decreased 1% year over year to $305 million. Segment volume fell 7% year over year. Revenue per load grew 6% year over year, owing to increases in both contractual and transactional rates as well as changes in customer mix. Our estimate is pegged at $300.9 million.Operating loss in the fourth quarter fell to $3.3 million from $21.8 million in the year-ago reported quarter. Operating results improved from the prior-year quarter owing to lower personnel-related expenses, lower equipment and facility rental expense and lower bad debt expense. These items were partially offset by higher third-party purchased transportation expenses in the reported quarter.Truckload revenues grew 10% year over year to $200 million. Excluding fuel surcharge, revenues increased 10% year over year, owing to a 15% increase in load volume, partially offset by a 4% decline in gross revenue per load excluding fuel surcharge revenue. Our estimate is pegged at $175.7 million.At the fourth-quarter end, total tractors were 2,003 compared with 1,919 a year ago. Trailers in the segment were 12,658 compared with the year-ago quarter’s figure of 12,895.Segmental operating income decreased 2% year over year, owing to higher third-party purchased transportation costs as the truckload market tightened throughout the fourth quarter.Final Mile Services revenues fell 10% year over year to $206 million, due to general softness in demand across many of the end markets served and a change in mix between JBHT’s asset-based and asset-lite businesses within FMS. Our estimate is pegged at $208.5 million.Operating income fell 43% year over year owing to a decline in segment revenue and higher insurance claims expense. These were partially offset by lower personnel-related costs, lower equipment and facility rental expenses and progress on initiatives to lower cost to serve.Liquidity & Buyback Details of JBHTJ.B. Hunt exited the fourth quarter of 2025 with cash and cash equivalents of $17.28 million compared with $52.3 million at the end of the prior quarter. Long-term debt was $766.93 million compared with $902.2 million at the prior-quarter end.In the fourth quarter of 2025, JBHT purchased almost 843,000 shares for $140 million. As of Dec. 31, 2025, JBHT had almost $968 million remaining under its share repurchase authorization.Currently, JBHT carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.Q4 Performance of Other Transportation CompanyDelta Air Lines DAL reported fourth-quarter 2025 earnings (excluding 31 cents from non-recurring items) of $1.55 per share, which beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $1.53. Earnings decreased 16.22% on a year-over-year basis due to high labor costs.Revenues in the December-end quarter were $16 billion, beating the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $15.63 billion and increasing 2.9% on a year-over-year basis. Adjusted operating revenues (excluding third-party refinery sales) increased 1.2% year over year to $14.6 billion. Revenue growth was impacted by about 2 points due to the government shutdown, mainly in the domestic segment, consistent with the company's disclosure last month.Upcoming Earnings Release of Another Transportation CompanyUnited Airlines (UAL) is scheduled to report fourth-quarter 2025 results on Jan. 20, after market close. United Airlines has an Earnings ESP of -3.56% and a Zacks Rank #3 at present.The Zacks Consensus Estimate for fourth-quarter 2025 earnings has declined 7.6% over the past 60 days to $3.05 per share. The consensus mark indicates a decline of 6.4% from the fourth-quarter 2024 actuals. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for revenues is pegged at $15.44 billion, indicating a 5.04% increase from the fourth-quarter 2024 actuals. UAL has an encouraging earnings surprise history, having surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate in the trailing four quarters. 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(JBHT): Free Stock Analysis ReportThis article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).Zacks Investment ResearchWeiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei Zacks Weiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei Zacks