J.B. HUNT TRANSPORT SERVICES, INC. vs ZTO Express (Cayman) Inc., two Trucking stocks. A side-by-side on valuation, growth, margins, returns, and what each price is betting.
ZTO Express handles parcels across China; J.B. Hunt handles intermodal and truckload freight across North America, so profitability rather than route overlap drives the comparison. ZTO's 18.49% net margin runs more than triple J.B. Hunt's 5.13%, a gap typical of parcel sortation against asset-heavy trucking. J.B. Hunt posts the higher return on equity, 17.31% against ZTO's 13.53%. ZTO trades far cheaper on earnings, 13.71 times against 43.56, and at a much lower book multiple, 1.87 times against 7.43. As an ADR, ZTO adds currency and governance risk J.B. Hunt does not carry. J.B. Hunt is the larger at $26.7B against ZTO's $18.0B.
Comparison updated 2026-07-11.
| Metric | JBHT | ZTO |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $279.81 | $23.82 |
| Market cap | $26.6B | $19.6B |
| Sector | Trucking | Trucking |
| Stage | Mature | Growth |
| P/E | 43.5 | 14.9 |
| P/B | 7.41 | 2.04 |
| P/S | 2.20 | 2.78 |
| EV/EBITDA | 17.4 | 9.9 |
| Revenue growth | +0.6% | +200.0% |
| Gross margin | — | 25.0% |
| Operating margin | 6.8% | 21.3% |
| Net margin | 5.1% | 18.5% |
| Return on equity | 17.3% | 13.5% |
| Return on assets | 7.8% | 10.0% |
| Return on invested capital | 13.7% | 10.6% |
| FCF yield | 3.9% | 4.9% |
| Dividend yield | 0.6% | — |
| Debt / equity | 0.36 | 0.16 |
| Current ratio | 1.26 | 1.49 |
| Altman Z (solvency) | 7.67 | 5.16 |
| Piotroski F (quality) | 6 / 9 | 6 / 9 |
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The stronger value is highlighted per metric where one is strictly better on that single number; it is not an overall verdict on either company. For informational and research purposes only. Not investment advice. Not a recommendation to buy, sell, or hold any security. boothcheck is not a registered investment adviser. Past performance does not guarantee future results.