Despite the aforementioned headwinds, the industry has demonstrated resilience, particularly among companies focused on growth strategies and operational efficiency. Given this backdrop of an improving freight scenario, investors would do well to bet on stocks like J.B. Hunt Transport Services JBHT, Knight-Swift Transportation Holdings KNX and ArcBest Corporation ARCB at present.
Industry Description
The Zacks Transportation-Truck industry houses 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. Besides 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.
4 Trends Shaping the Future of the Trucking Industry
Freight Scene on the Mend: A Big Positive : Following a prolonged period of downturn, things appear to be brightening as far as freight demand is concerned. Highlighting the brightening freight demand scenario, the Cass Freight Shipments Index improved 3% month on month in May 2026. This measure has improved month on month in each of the past four months, which confirms the improving scenario. The 1.2% year-over-year May decrease with respect to the Cass Freight Shipments Index was the smallest reduction in the past 18 months, further attesting to the improvement.
Moreover, many market watchers expect freight rates to increase in the current year. The shrinking of capacity, as small carriers exit the market due to lackluster profitability, is resulting in the tightening of the supply-demand gap, thereby improving pricing power.
Uptick in AI Investments Support Efficiencies: In a bid to improve efficiency, companies are investing big time in AI, thereby reducing the cost structure and promoting safety. Cost optimization and automation are helping protect profitability. Fleets are increasingly using AI to optimize routes, predict vehicle maintenance needs and match freight with available trucks in real time. This helps reduce empty trips, lower fuel costs, minimize vehicle downtime and improve fleet utilization. AI is also making supply chains more efficient by improving demand forecasting, shipment tracking and load planning, enabling trucking companies to respond more quickly to customer needs. In warehouses and distribution centers, AI-powered automation speeds up freight handling, allowing trucks to spend more time on the road.
Emphasis on Shareholder Returns: As economic activity rebounds from pandemic-era lows, companies are increasingly using their growing cash reserves to reward shareholders through dividends and share buybacks. This reflects both financial resilience and confidence in prospects. Within the Transportation-Truck space, J.B. Hunt Transport Services has raised its quarterly dividend by 2.3% this year.
Economic Uncertainty Refuses to Fade: The industry’s prospects are highly correlated with the prevailing economic health. Volatile inflation data, geopolitical tensions and labor market concerns have dented consumer confidence and have time and again unsettled markets. In its latest policy meeting, the Fed did not go for a rate cut but held rates at 3.5-3.75%. The recent intensification of the prolonged Russia-Ukraine conflict has aggravated the uncertain scenario.
Zacks Industry Rank Indicates Sunny Prospects
The Zacks Transportation-Truck industry is a 12-stock group within the broader Zacks Transportation sector. The industry currently carries a Zacks Industry Rank #41, which places it in the top 17% of 246 Zacks industries.
The group’s Zacks Industry Rank, the average of the Zacks Rank of all member stocks, indicates bright near-term prospects. Our research shows that the top 50% of the Zacks-ranked industries outperform the bottom 50% by a factor of more than 2 to 1.
The industry’s position in the top 50% of the Zacks-ranked industries is a result of a positive earnings outlook for the constituent companies in aggregate. Looking at the aggregate earnings estimate revisions, it appears that analysts are gradually gaining confidence in this group’s earnings growth potential. The industry's earnings estimate for 2026 has increased 7.1% since March-end.
Before we present a few stocks from the industry that you may want to buy, let’s take a look at the industry’s recent stock market performance and the valuation picture.
Truck Industry Outperforms the S&P 500 and the Sector
The Zacks Transportation-Truck industry has surpassed the Zacks S&P 500 composite as well as the Transportation sector over the past year.
The industry has surged roughly 51% over this period compared with the S&P 500's appreciation of 23.7% and the broader sector’s uptick of 23.4%.
One-Year Price Performance
Truck Industry's Current Valuation
Based on the trailing 12-month EV-to-EBITDA (enterprise value to earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization), a commonly used multiple for valuing trucking stocks, the industry is currently trading at 18X compared with the S&P 500’s 18.53X. It is above the sector’s EV/EBITDA of 11.74X.
Over the past five years, the industry has traded as high as 19.72X and as low as 7.83X, with the median being 12.34X, as the chart below shows.
Enterprise Value-to-EBITDA Ratio (TTM)
3 Transport Truck Stocks to Bet on at Present
Knight-Swift is based in Phoenix, AZ. This company’s efforts to reward its investors through dividends and buybacks bode well. Earlier in the year, Knight-Swift raised its quarterly dividend to 20 cents per share from 18 cents.
Shares of KNX have surged 65% in a year. KNX currently sports a Zacks Rank# 1 (Strong Buy). The Zacks Consensus Estimate for current-year earnings has been revised upward by 2.1% over the past 60 days.
You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.
Price and Consensus: KNX
ArcBest provides freight transportation services and solutions. The company is based in Fort Smith, AR. ArcBest is being well-served by its efforts to control costs, improve productivity and enhance service quality.
The company expects its 2026 earnings per share to increase 58.6% on a year-over-year basis. Shares of ARCB have surged 76% in a year. ARCB currently sports a Zacks Rank# 1. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for current-year earnings has been revised upward by 11% over the past 60 days.
Price and Consensus: ARCB
J.B. Hunt Transport Services provides a broad range of transportation services to a diverse group of customers in the United States, Canada and Mexico. JBHT is benefiting from efforts to reward its shareholders through dividend payments and share repurchases.
Shares of JBHT have surged 91% in a year. JBHT currently carries a Zacks Rank # 2 (Buy). In the current year, the company’s earnings beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate in three of the last four quarters (missing the mark in the other quarter). The average beat is 6.3%.
Price and Consensus: JBHT
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J.B. Hunt Transport Services, Inc. (JBHT): Free Stock Analysis Report
Knight-Swift Transportation Holdings Inc. (KNX): Free Stock Analysis Report
ArcBest Corporation (ARCB): Free Stock Analysis Report
This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).