J.B. Hunt Transport Services Inc. JBHT is set to release first-quarter fiscal 2016 results before the market opens on Apr 18.In the last quarter, the company recorded a positive 1.00% earnings surprise. Let’s see how things are shaping up for this announcement.Factors at Play this QuarterJ.B. Hunt expects the major chunk of the volume growth to be buoyed by new contracts from the ongoing highway to intermodal conversion while a small portion is likely to come from existing customers. Both Intermodal and DCS segments continue to deliver solid growth in revenues mainly buoyed by new customers and rate increase.However, lower fuel surcharge continue to impact the company’s annual core price increase, thus affecting revenues. Moreover, J.B. Hunt competes with a range of regional and national transportation and logistics companies. Furthermore, the trucking industry is highly fragmented owing to low barriers to entry.Earnings WhispersOur proven model does not conclusively show that J.B. Hunt is likely to beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate this quarter. This is because a stock needs to have both a positive Earnings ESP and a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), 2 (Buy) or at least 3 (Hold) for this to happen. Unfortunately, this is not the case here as elaborated below.Zacks ESP: The Most Accurate estimate and the Zacks Consensus Estimate are poised at 85 cents. Hence, the ESP is 0.00%.Zacks Rank: J.B. Hunt carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). While this increases the predictive power, we also need to have a positive ESP to be confident of an earnings surprise.Meanwhile, we caution against stocks with a Zacks Rank #4 and 5 (Sell-rated stocks) going into the earnings announcement, especially when the company is seeing negative estimate revisions.Stocks to ConsiderHere are some companies you may want to consider as our model shows these have the right combination of elements to post an earnings beat this quarter.Canadian National Railway Company CNI with an Earnings ESP of +1.47% and a Zacks Rank #1.Canadian Pacific Railway Limited CP with an Earnings ESP of +0.55% and a Zacks Rank #1.Spirit Airlines, Inc. SAVE with an Earnings ESP of +1.12% and a Zacks Rank #3.Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report >>Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report CDN NATL RY CO (CNI): Free Stock Analysis Report CDN PAC RLWY (CP): Free Stock Analysis Report HUNT (JB) TRANS (JBHT): Free Stock Analysis Report SPIRIT AIRLINES (SAVE): Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Zacks Investment Research