Which way JB Hunt Transport Services Inc. (NASDAQ:JBHT) earnings moved?

JB Hunt Transport Services Inc. (NASDAQ:JBHT) reported earnings for the three months ended Mar2016 on April 18, 2016. The company earned $0.88 per share on revenue of $1.53B. Analysts had been modeling earning per share of $0.85 with $1.52B in revenue.

JB Hunt Transport Services Inc. (JBHT) on April 18, 2016 announced first quarter 2016 net earnings of $100.1 million, or diluted earnings per share of 88 cents vs. first quarter 2015 net earnings of $91.9 million, or 78 cents per diluted share.

Total operating revenue for the current quarter was $1.53 billion, compared with $1.44 billion for the first quarter 2015. Current quarter total operating revenue, excluding fuel surcharges, increased 12.9% vs. first quarter 2015. Intermodal (JBI) load growth was 12% over first quarter 2015 levels. Dedicated Contract Services (DCS) segment revenue increased by 4% over prior year primarily from additional customer contracts from a year ago and rate increases from more mature customer contracts. Integrated Capacity Solutions (ICS) load growth was 45% over the same period in 2015. Truck (JBT) segment revenue increased 5% on a 12% increase in fleet size.

Operating income for the current quarter totaled $168 million vs. $155 million for the first quarter 2015. Benefits from volume growth, improved network operations, higher equipment utilization, lower equipment maintenance costs and increased contract pricing established throughout 2015 across all business units was partially offset by increased rail purchased transportation costs, higher driver wages and recruiting costs, increased equipment ownership costs and increased costs from corporate wide technology upgrades.

Net interest expense for the current quarter decreased 4% from the same period in 2015 due to lower effective interest rates on our debt. The effective income tax rate decreased slightly to 38.0% in the current quarter compared to 38.1% in the first quarter 2015.

JB Hunt Transport Services Inc. earnings per share showed an increasing trend of 15.7% for the current fiscal year. The company’s expected EPS growth rate for next fiscal year is 454%.Analysts project EPS growth over the next 5 years at 13.2%. It has EPS annual growth over the past 5 fiscal years of 18.6% when sales grew 10.3. It reported 6.1% sales growth, and 12.5% EPS growth in the last quarter.

The stock is trading at $82.72, up 30.83% from 52-week low of $63.58. The stock trades down -7.26% from its peak of $89.43 and 10.43% above the consensus price target of $91.35. Its volume clocked up at 0.63 million shares which is lower than the average volume of 0.8 million shares. Its market capitalization currently stands at $9.25B.