LITTLE ROCK — J.B. Hunt Transport Services Inc. on Thursday said efforts to “drive out cost and create efficiency” in part helped its fourth-quarter earnings performance.
The Lowell-based trucking company reported a 25 percent increase in net income at $72.57 million, or 61 cents per share, for the quarter that ended Dec. 31, compared with $57.85 million, or 46 cents per share, for the same year-ago period.
The trucker beat the average earnings estimate of 58 cents per share from 27 analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters.
Revenue came in 18 percent higher at $1.2 billion for the fourth quarter of 2011 compared with $1.02 billion for the fourth quarter of 2010.
The trucker released its results after the market closed.
Shares of J.B. Hunt Transport Services rose 67 cents, or 1.38 percent, Thursday at $49.30 per share on the Nasdaq, a new 52-week high. Its stock has traded as high as $49.12 and as low as $34.42 over the past year.
For 2011, the company reported net income of $257.01 million, or $2.11 per share, on revenue of $4.53 billion, compared with $199.62 million, or $1.56 per share, on revenue of $3.79 billion in 2010.
“During 2011 we began implementing improvements to the approach we take with our larger, more complex customers and we are satisfied so far with the results of these efforts,” John Roberts, the company’s president and chief executive officer, said in a news release.
Revenue was driven by rate increases, fuel surcharges and load growth in the rail-to-truck segment’s eastern rail network.
The company said its trucking segment reported a 4 percent increase in what it’s paid per mile.
Fuel surcharges grew 58 percent to $230.93 million in the quarter, and the carrier said freight shipped in part by a railroad grew 35 percent in its eastern network. Transcontinental freight grew 9 percent in comparison.
“The demand for conversion from highway to rail continued to be strong,” the release said.
Expenditures were reduced through decreasing insurance and workers’ compensation costs and lower maintenance costs, the carrier reported.
Business, Pages 27 on 01/27/2012