J.B. Hunt Transport Services Inc. (JBHT) said Thursday after the markets closed that its third quarter profit rose 14% from last year, helped by higher revenue, reduced interest expenses and a slightly lower tax rate.
The company's quarterly earnings per share came in below analysts' expectations, but its quarterly revenue beat analysts' estimate.
J.B. Hunt shares are currently gaining 4.09% in after hours trading after closing the day's regular trading session at $54.79, up 17 cents. The shares trade in a 52-week range of $38.13 to $61.18.
The trucking company's operating income for the third quarter grew 12% to $133 million, as positive results from load growth and improved network balance in the company's intermodal segment and load growth in its integrated capacity solutions segment were partially offset by cost pressures experienced in the company's dedicated contract services and trucking segments.
Third quarter revenue from the company's intermodal segment surged 15% to $794 million on a 15% increase in load volumes. The segment's operating income jumped 25% to $97.9 million in the third quarter.
Revenue from the company's dedicated contract services grew 1% to $273 million, while the segment's operating income fell 14% to $25.6 million.
Third quarter revenue from the company's integrated capacity solutions segment rose 30% to $121 million mostly due to a 38% increase in load volume, while segment operating income climbed 43% to $5.5 million.
Truck segment revenue slipped 8% to $117 million in the third quarter on an approximate 9% reduction in fleet size, while the segment's operating income dropped 41% to $4 million.
For the third quarter ended September 30, 2012, the Lowell, Arkansas-based company reported net income of $78.2 million or $0.65 per share, compared to $68.7 million or $0.57 per share for the year-ago quarter.
On average, 29 analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected the company to earn $0.66 per share for the third quarter.
Total operating revenues for the third quarter rose 11% to $1.30 billion from $1.17 billion in the same quarter last year. Twenty-three analysts had a consensus revenue estimate of $1.28 billion for the third quarter.
Excluding fuel surcharges, total operating revenues for the quarter increased 10.5% to $1.05 billion.
J.B. Hunt said it did not purchase any shares of its common stock during the third quarter quarter. At September 30, the company had about $503 million remaining under two separate share repurchase authorities. Actual shares outstanding at the end of the third quarter were about 118.3 million.
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