LITTLE ROCK — J.B. Hunt Transport Services Inc. of Lowell on Thursday reported fourth-quarter earnings of $84.0 million, or 70 cents per share, for the period ending Dec. 31, up from $72.6 million, or 61 cents a share, a year earlier.
The earnings-per-share figure came in slightly above the consensus estimate by industry analysts of 69 cents a share, as polled by Thomson Reuters. The year-ago figure included a pre-tax expense of $3.9 million, or 2 cents a share, related to severance agreements for executive retirees.
The company’s stock price closed at a 52-week high of $67.57 - up $4.11 - more than 6 percent in Thursday’s trading on the Nasdaq stock exchange as the reported figures for revenue, earnings and earnings per share for the quarter and for the year were all records. The stock previously had traded between $48.74 and $64.12 in the past year.
The company cited larger load volumes, effective cost controls and lower borrowing costs as factors in its recent performance.
Total revenue for the quarter was $1.3 billion, up from $1.2 billion a year ago. For the full year, J.B. Hunt reported revenue of $5.1 billion, up 12 percent from the previous fiscal year.
The company’s intermodal business increased load growth by 11 percent, which contributed to a 13 percent revenue increase in that segment. Trucking revenue declined by 12 percent, which the company said was a result of a 19 percent reduction in the size of its fleet compared with a year ago.
Net income for the period was $84 million, up 16 percent from the $72.6 million recorded in the fourth quarter last year.
Nate Brochmann, transportation and logistics analyst for William Blair & Co. LLC, said J.B. Hunt turned in a solid performance in the fourth quarter and he expects that to continue this year.
“We are confident in J.B. Hunt’s ability to further penetrate intermodal customers and add new ones, especially in the dedicated contract services group, where, in fact, it is adding a large new customer in the first half of 2013,” Brochmann said in a research note. “As a result, we are comfortable with our 2013 forecast, expecting growth of 18 percent.”
Brochmann noted that Hunt saw volume growth across all of its business segments except for its truck fleet, in which it continued a fleet reduction as planned.
Business, Pages 25 on 01/25/2013