Company Reports

As anticipated, the International Longshoremen’s Association has implemented a work stoppage across US East Coast and Gulf Coast ports. As we understand it, the dockworkers union initially wanted a more than 70% increase in wages over a six-year period in order to return to the negotiating table. Before the strike, it sounded to us as if the Biden administration was signaling hesitancy to intervene via the Taft-Hartley Act. Thus, the potential duration of the strike remains uncertain.

At its core, J.B. Hunt is an intermodal marketing company; it contracts with the Class I railroads for the line-haul movement of its domestic containers. It was one of the first for-hire truckload carriers to venture into intermodal shipping, forming a partnership with BNSF Railway in the West in 1990, followed by an agreement with Norfolk Southern in the East. Hunt has established a definitive leadership position in intermodal shipping, with a 20%-plus share of a $25 billion industry. The next-largest competitor is Hub Group, followed by the intermodal divisions of Schneider National, STG Logistics, and Knight Swift. Intermodal made up around 48% of Hunt's total revenue in 2023.

Narrow-moat J.B. Hunt’s second-quarter top line fell 6% year over year (excluding fuel), missing our expected run rate, particularly for the flagship intermodal division. Domestic intermodal load volume and pricing were weaker than we expected on persistent competition from depressed truckload-sector rates, especially in Eastern corridors where volume deteriorated by 7%. This overshadowed an apparent uptick in retailer inventory restocking and solid West Coast import gains. In short, truckload industry pricing has remained depressed longer than we initially thought.

At its core, J.B. Hunt is an intermodal marketing company; it contracts with the Class I railroads for the line-haul movement of its domestic containers. It was one of the first for-hire truckload carriers to venture into intermodal shipping, forming a partnership with BNSF Railway in the West in 1990, followed by an agreement with Norfolk Southern in the East. Hunt has established a definitive leadership position in intermodal shipping, with a 20%-plus share of a $30 billion industry. The next-largest competitor is Hub Group, followed by the intermodal divisions of Schneider National, STG Logistics, and Knight Swift. Intermodal made up around 48% of Hunt's total revenue in 2023.

Narrow-moat J.B. Hunt’s first-quarter consolidated top line fell 7% year over year (excluding fuel) and missed our expected run rate, particularly for the intermodal and the truck brokerage divisions. We figured revenue would decline again this quarter, given the lingering weakness in overall freight demand and pricing, including abundant market capacity. Still, for intermodal at least, we expected modest gains in truck-to-rail conversion activity thanks in part to rail service gains, and early signs of improvement in retailer inventory restocking, which would benefit overall demand. However, it sounds like competition from the truckload sector remained intense in many corridors, especially in the Eastern US.

At its core, J.B. Hunt is an intermodal marketing company; it contracts with the Class I railroads for the line-haul movement of its domestic containers. It was one of the first for-hire truckload carriers to venture into intermodal shipping, forming a partnership with BNSF Railway in the West in 1990, followed by an agreement with Norfolk Southern in the East. Hunt has established a definitive leadership position in intermodal shipping, with a 20%-plus share of a $30 billion industry. The next-largest competitor is Hub Group, followed by the intermodal divisions of Schneider National, STG Logistics, and Knight Swift. Intermodal made up around 48% of Hunt's total revenue in 2023.

At its core, J.B. Hunt is an intermodal marketing company; it contracts with the Class I railroads for the line-haul movement of its domestic containers. It was one of the first for-hire truckload carriers to venture into intermodal shipping, forming a partnership with BNSF Railway in the West in 1990, followed by an agreement with Norfolk Southern in the East. Hunt has established a definitive leadership position in intermodal shipping, with a 20%-plus share of a $30 billion industry. The next-largest competitor is Hub Group, followed by the intermodal divisions of Schneider National, STG Logistics, and Knight Swift. Intermodal made up around 48% of Hunt's total revenue in 2023.

At its core, J.B. Hunt is an intermodal marketing company; it contracts with the Class I railroads for the line-haul movement of its domestic containers. It was one of the first for-hire truckload carriers to venture into intermodal shipping, forming a partnership with BNSF Railway in the West in 1990, followed by an agreement with Norfolk Southern in the East. Hunt has established a definitive leadership position in intermodal shipping, with a 20%-plus share of a $30 billion industry. The next-largest competitor is Hub Group, followed by the intermodal divisions of Schneider National, STG Logistics, and Knight Swift. Intermodal made up around 48% of Hunt's total revenue in 2023.

Narrow-moat J.B. Hunt’s consolidated top line declined 6% year over year (excluding fuel), and sales fell in all segments. That said, we expected declines to persist in the quarter across Hunt's intermodal, trucking, and brokerage operations, driven by sluggish demand and pricing normalization. Also, revenue declines eased sequentially and were in line with our expectations. Importantly, intermodal revenue met our forecast as volumes started to see recovery.

At its core, J.B. Hunt is an intermodal marketing company; it contracts with the Class I railroads for the line-haul movement of its domestic containers. It was one of the first for-hire truckload carriers to venture into intermodal shipping, forming a partnership with BNSF Railway in the West in 1990, followed by an agreement with Norfolk Southern in the East. Hunt has established a definitive leadership position in intermodal shipping, with a 20%-plus share of a $30 billion industry. The next-largest competitor is Hub Group, followed by the intermodal divisions of Schneider National, STG Logistics, and Knight Swift. Intermodal made up around 47% of Hunt's total revenue in 2022.

Narrow-moat J.B. Hunt Transport Services' third-quarter consolidated top line fell 15% year over year excluding fuel, similar to the second-quarter decline, with sales down in all segments. Intermodal revenue was short of our expected run rate, as we anticipated a slight sequential uptick in retail sector inventory restocking that didn't occur. That said, we were expecting overall year-over-year declines to persist across Hunt's intermodal, trucking, and brokerage operations, driven by tough comparisons and incremental demand and pricing normalization.

At its core, J.B. Hunt is an intermodal marketing company; it contracts with the Class I railroads for the line-haul movement of its domestic containers. It was one of the first for-hire truckload carriers to venture into intermodal shipping, forming a partnership with BNSF Railway in the West in 1990, followed by an agreement with Norfolk Southern in the East. Hunt has established a definitive leadership position in intermodal shipping, with a 20%-plus share of a $30 billion industry. The next-largest competitor is Hub Group, followed by the intermodal divisions of Schneider National, STG Logistics, and Knight Swift. Intermodal made up around 47% of Hunt's total revenue in 2022.

Narrow-moat-rated J.B. Hunt’s top line fell 14% year over year (excluding fuel) as revenue declined in all segments. While revenue fell short of our expectations, the overall decline is not surprising given ongoing freight-demand normalization, including retail sector inventory destocking and soft U.S. import trends. Also, intermodal activity probably saw added pressure from shippers' concerns over west coast labor-related port disruption, which caused some imports to shift to the east coast.

At its core, J.B. Hunt is an intermodal marketing company; it contracts with the Class I railroads for the line-haul movement of its domestic containers. It was one of the first for-hire truckload carriers to venture into intermodal shipping, forming a partnership with BNSF Railway in the West in 1990, followed by an agreement with Norfolk Southern in the East. Hunt has established a definitive leadership position in intermodal shipping, with a 20%-plus share of a $30 billion industry. The next-largest competitor is Hub Group, followed by the intermodal divisions of Schneider National, STG Logistics, and Knight Swift. Intermodal made up around 47% of Hunt's total revenue in 2022.

Narrow-moat J.B. Hunt’s top line swung to a 10% year-over-year decline (excluding fuel), as revenue fell in all segments except for dedicated, or DCS. We've been expecting revenue to contract this quarter as the retail-sector inventory restocking pullback and anemic West Coast import activity weigh on overall freight demand. This dynamic was only partly offset by additional revenue producing trucks at DCS.

At its core, J.B. Hunt is an intermodal marketing company; it contracts with the Class I railroads for the line-haul movement of its domestic containers. It was one of the first for-hire truckload carriers to venture into intermodal shipping, forming a partnership with BNSF Railway in the West in 1990. Years later, it struck an agreement with Norfolk Southern in the East. Hunt has established a definitive leadership position in intermodal shipping, with a 20%-plus share of a $30 billion industry. The next-largest competitor is Hub Group, followed by the intermodal divisions of Schneider National, STG Logistics, and Knight Swift. Intermodal made up around 47% of Hunt's total revenue in 2022.

At its core, J.B. Hunt is an intermodal marketing company; it contracts with the Class I railroads for the line-haul movement of its domestic containers. It was one of the first for-hire truckload carriers to venture into intermodal shipping, forming a partnership with BNSF Railway in the West in 1990. Years later, it struck an agreement with Norfolk Southern in the East. Hunt has established a definitive leadership position in intermodal shipping, with a 20%-plus share of a $30 billion industry. The next-largest competitor is Hub Group, followed by the intermodal divisions of Schneider National, STG Logistics, and Knight Swift. Intermodal made up around 47% of Hunt's total revenue in 2022.

Narrow-moat J.B. Hunt’s year-over-year top-line growth moderated to 4% in the quarter (it fell 3% excluding fuel). The general theme is that retail sector inventory restocking has retrenched and is now pressuring freight volumes across most segments. This dynamic was only partly offset by lingering contract pricing tailwinds for intermodal and additional revenue producing trucks for the dedicated segment, or DCS. We've been expecting a demand slowdown, though Hunt's total revenue came in slightly shy of our forecast on lower-than-expected intermodal volumes and a significant decline in truck brokerage, or ICS, gross revenue.

At its core, J.B. Hunt is an intermodal marketing company; it contracts with the Class I railroads for the line-haul movement of its domestic containers. It was one of the first for-hire truckload carriers to venture into intermodal shipping, forming a partnership with BNSF Railway in the West in 1990. Years later, it struck an agreement with Norfolk Southern in the East. Hunt has established a definitive leadership position in intermodal shipping, with a 20%-plus share of a $25 billion-plus industry. The next-largest competitor is Hub Group, followed by the intermodal divisions of Schneider National, STG Logistics, and Knight Swift. Intermodal made up slightly less than half of Hunt's total revenue in 2021.

Narrow-moat J.B. Hunt’s top line grew 12% year over year (excluding fuel). Growth was mostly in line with our expectations, as a higher-than-expected showing in the dedicated and for-hire trucking segments offset lower-than-expected truck brokerage transactional volumes (the truckload market capacity crunch is easing).