JBHT Stock: J B Hunt Transport Services Best Name You’ve Never Heard Of
Stealth Rally for JBHT Stock
J B Hunt Transport Services Inc (NASDAQ:JBHT) stock is a well-known trucking company. This major operator in the North American market is a great benchmark stock to follow and the position’s been a very good wealth creator.
There’s a lot of stealth action taking place in this stock market. Consumer staples have been breaking out and recently, many transportation issues have been ticking higher. This is useful market intelligence and it’s more pieces for bull market confirmation.
In calendar 2015, J B Hunt’s operating sales were flat, which isn’t a surprise. But the company was able to provide shareholders with very good earnings growth, up 16% comparatively on an earnings per share basis for the year. Fourth-quarter 2015 earnings per share grew nine percent comparatively on a one-percent gain in total sales.
Lower fuel costs were a big help to the company’s bottom line, as is the case for many transportation-related businesses. This trend bodes well for this calendar year as expenses for gasoline, diesel, and jet fuel are expected to be way down on a comparative basis for most of the big name transportation companies.
The chart for JBHT stock is featured below:
Chart courtesy www.StockCharts.com
What transportation stocks report in terms of their operational and financial performance is material information for any equity market investor.
Not only do railroads provide excellent market research statistics and data, trucking usually represents the end-game or “finished trip” for the delivery of merchandise. SEC filings typically yield much more detailed and useful data regarding business conditions among trucking firms.
J B Hunt is a component of the important Dow Jones Transportation Average. This index, like the broader market, had a tough start to the year, but it’s been on the comeback trail.
Year-to-date, and especially since early February, this transportation index has beat the S&P 500, the NASDAQ Composite, the Russell 2000 Index of small-caps, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average. This is a telling market development as far as I’m concerned.
Transportation names like JBHT stock and others are always worth following for their operational business conditions. Railroads and trucking typically experience new economic trends first.
The Bottom Line on JBHT Stock
Right now, Wall Street analysts expect J B Hunt to generate high single-digit comparable sales growth this year and approximately 10% in further sales growth in calendar 2017.
The company’s earnings per share are expected to improve this year by about 10%, with 2017’s earnings outlook expected to produce per-share growth of another 12% to 13%.
This is meaningful top- and bottom-line financial progress for any enterprise, let alone a mature trucking business. These financial expectations are another indicator regarding improving expectations for the U.S. economy and they provide good market intelligence in general.
J B Hunt reports mid-April and the company’s numbers will offer up good confirmation for the Dow Jones Transportation Average and the broader market.
