13Jun
Technological Insight on a modern Marvel on futures IPOs & an logistical NASDAQ profile track and charts as well as I overview of the S&P 500 Truck Stocks to Keep an Eye On in a Challenging Industry
Despite macroeconomic challenges causing uncertainty in demand, the industry demonstrates resilience, especially for companies prioritizing growth and operational efficiency. Among the companies in the industry that will probably survive the business challenges are J.B. Hunt Transport Services JBHT,ArcBest Corporation ARCB and Covenant Logistics Group CVLG.Industry DescriptionThe Zacks Transportation - Truck industry consists of truck operators transporting freight to diverse customers, mainly across North America. These companies provide full-truckload or less-than-truckload (LTL) services over the short, medium or long haul. The range of trucking services these companies provide includes dry-van, dedicated, refrigerated, flatbed and expedited. Some companies have an extensive fleet of company-owned tractors and trucks and independent contractor trucks. Alongside trucking, most entities offer logistics and intermodal services as well as value-added services like container drayage, truckload brokerage, supply-chain consulting and warehousing. A few also offer asset-light services to other third-party logistics companies in the transportation sector.
Supply-Chain Disruptions & Weak Freight Rates: Although economic activities picked up from the pandemic gloom, supply-chain disruptions continue to dent stocks in the industry. Below-par freight rates are also hurting the industry’s prospects. Highlighting the weak freight demand, the Cass Freight Shipments Index declined 4.5% year over year in February. This measure has deteriorated for 13 consecutive months on a year-over-year basis, which confirms the overall declining trend. Strong Financial Returns for Shareholders:With economic activities gaining pace from the pandemic lows, more and more companies are allocating their increasing cash pile by way of dividends and buybacks to pacify long-suffering shareholders. This underlines their financial strength and confidence in the business. Among the players in the Trucking industry, JBHT announced an increase in the quarterly dividend this year. Prolonged Truck-Driver Shortage:The persistent driver crisis in the trucking industry is worsening supply-chain challenges across the United States. Driver scarcity issues limit trucking capacity, making it difficult for trucking companies to meet increased freight demand. American Trucking Associations’ chief economist, Bob Costello, expects the trucking industry to be short of more than 160,000 drivers by 2030.
Musk said: “12.5 will be out in late June. Will also see a major improvement in mpi and is single stack – no more implicit stack on highways.” He then confirmed in another post on X that Cybertruck will get Full Self-Driving with the 12.5 release.