It's been a good week for J.B. Hunt Transport Services, Inc. (NASDAQ:JBHT) shareholders, because the company has just released its latest yearly results, and the shares gained 3.5% to US$199. Revenues of US$13b were in line with forecasts, although statutory earnings per share (EPS) came in below expectations at US$6.97, missing estimates by 3.8%. Following the result, the analysts have updated their earnings model, and it would be good to know whether they think there's been a strong change in the company's prospects, or if it's business as usual. So we collected the latest post-earnings statutory consensus estimates to see what could be in store for next year.

Check out our latest analysis for J.B. Hunt Transport Services

Following the latest results, J.B. Hunt Transport Services' 20 analysts are now forecasting revenues of US$13.5b in 2024. This would be a satisfactory 5.4% improvement in revenue compared to the last 12 months. Per-share earnings are expected to climb 11% to US$7.85. Yet prior to the latest earnings, the analysts had been anticipated revenues of US$13.5b and earnings per share (EPS) of US$8.06 in 2024. So it looks like there's been a small decline in overall sentiment after the recent results - there's been no major change to revenue estimates, but the analysts did make a minor downgrade to their earnings per share forecasts.

The consensus price target held steady at US$206, with the analysts seemingly voting that their lower forecast earnings are not expected to lead to a lower stock price in the foreseeable future. There's another way to think about price targets though, and that's to look at the range of price targets put forward by analysts, because a wide range of estimates could suggest a diverse view on possible outcomes for the business. The most optimistic J.B. Hunt Transport Services analyst has a price target of US$227 per share, while the most pessimistic values it at US$165. This shows there is still a bit of diversity in estimates, but analysts don't appear to be totally split on the stock as though it might be a success or failure situation.

Of course, another way to look at these forecasts is to place them into context against the industry itself. We would highlight that J.B. Hunt Transport Services' revenue growth is expected to slow, with the forecast 5.4% annualised growth rate until the end of 2024 being well below the historical 12% p.a. growth over the last five years. Compare this against other companies (with analyst forecasts) in the industry, which are in aggregate expected to see revenue growth of 7.0% annually. Factoring in the forecast slowdown in growth, it seems obvious that J.B. Hunt Transport Services is also expected to grow slower than other industry participants.