JB Hunt is my bellwether – I can see what is happening in each segment.  My summary is…

JB Hunt is my bellwether – I can see what is happening in each segment.  My summary is:
  • Prices are up in truckload
  • Brokerage is suffering from increased costs and declining spot prices
  • Intermodal is a mixed bag – maybe longer hauls, definitely higher cost to the shipper 
  • Dedicated is always a cash cow
Here are the details:
  • Intermodal, which is more than 50% of JB’s revenue, saw a slight drop but income took a 7% hit in profit – but the details are revealing:  Revenue decreased 1% reflecting the 8% volume decline and an approximate 7% increase in revenue/load
  • Dedicated revenue up 28% but profits only up 3% – there was a one-time charge that hurt
  • Truckload revenue was down 2% but profits were up 19% – 4% increase in rates per loaded mile and a 3% decrease in length of haul
  • Brokerage lost money on $334Million in revenue
Interesting fact:  JBH Intermodal has 97,000 trailers and 5,600 tractors!