J.B. Hunt Transport Services, Inc. (JBHT) Q3 2022 Earnings Call Transcript

J.B. Hunt Transport Services, Inc. (NASDAQ:JBHT) Q3 2022 Earnings Conference Call October 18, 2022 5:00 PM ET

Company Participants

Brad Delco - SVP, Finance

John Roberts - CEO

Shelley Simpson - President

John Kuhlow - CFO

Nick Hobbs - COO and President, Contract Services

Darren Field - President, Intermodal

Brad Hicks - President, Highway Services

Conference Call Participants

Scott Group - Wolfe Research

Chris Wetherbee - Citi

Amit Mehrotra - Deutsche Bank

Justin Long - Stephens

Jon Chappell - Evercore ISI

Jordan Alliger - Goldman Sachs

Allison Poliniak - Wells Fargo

David Zazula - Barclays

Ken Hoexter - Bank of America

Brian Ossenbeck - JPMorgan

Ravi Shanker - Morgan Stanley

Ari Rosa - Credit Suisse

Operator

Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you for attending today's J.B. Hunt 3Q 2022 Earnings Conference Call. My name is Tia, and I will be your moderator for today's call. [Operator Instructions]

I would now like to pass the conference over to your host, Brad Delco, Senior Vice President of Finance. You may proceed.

Brad Delco

Good afternoon. Before I introduce the speakers, I would like to take some time to provide some disclosures regarding forward-looking statements. This call may contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Words such as expects, anticipates, intends, estimates or similar expressions are intended to identify these forward-looking statements. These statements are based on J.B. Hunt's current plans and expectations and involve risks and uncertainties that could cause future activities and results to be materially different from those set forth in the forward-looking statements. For information regarding risk factors, please refer to J.B. Hunt's annual report on Form 10-K and other reports and filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Now I would like to introduce the speakers on today's call. This afternoon I'm joined by our CEO, John Roberts; our President, Shelley Simpson; our CFO, John Kuhlow; Nick Hobbs, COO and President of Contract Services; Darren Field, President of Intermodal; and Brad Hicks, EVP of People and President of Highway Services.

At this time, I would like to turn the call to our CEO, Mr. John Roberts, for some opening comments.

John Roberts

Thank you, Brad, and good afternoon.

As we reflect on the performance of the overall business in the third quarter, we echo many of the same themes discussed on our last call with an intense focus on changes in the freight markets we serve. The results in many areas of our business achieved appropriate targets in light of the cyclical shift in market balance I've referenced last quarter. While some improvement has been seen in rail service and company hiring challenges in particular with our driver force, we continue to face difficulties in equipment availability for growth and replacement, along with the uncertainty of the direction of macro conditions.