J.B. Hunt says initiatives to reduce annual cost by $100M

The company states on its Q2 earnings call: “While we continue to focus on operational excellence, driving productivity managing our costs, inflationary pressures, primarily in wages, insurance, both casualty and medical and equipment costs more than offset those efforts. And weighed on margins versus the prior year period. Starting with second quarter results. On a consolidated GAAP basis, revenue was flat operating income decreased 4%, and diluted earnings per share was less than 1% below the prior year quarter. The declines were primarily driven by inflationary cost pressures across the business notably in casualty and group medical claims expense. And higher professional driver wages and equipment related costs. These were partially offset by productivity and cost initiatives. And a 5% lower average diluted share count. Versus the prior year period. While the recent tax bill remains under review, we continue to expect our tax rate to be between 2425% and likely towards the higher end of that range. Regarding costs, we have been managing costs aggressively since the freight downturn began over three years ago. We’ve managed headcount through attrition and performance management driven productivity in our operations and eliminated discretionary spending that ultimately wouldn’t jeopardize our future earnings power, nor our ability to capitalize on growth opportunities. Earlier this year, we challenged ourselves to do more, in an effort to accelerate improvement in our financial performance, create greater operating leverage for the company when market dynamics turn. And help support our future growth. Each executive focused on one or two of a total of 14 different areas across the business to identify opportunities to lower our cost to serve. The results of this initiative resulted in $100M of identified annual cost to eliminate.”