Heartland Express (HTLD) came out with quarterly earnings of $0.26 per share, in line with the Zacks Consensus Estimate. This compares to earnings of $0.24 per share a year ago. These figures are adjusted for non-recurring items.A quarter ago, it was expected that this trucking and logistics company would post earnings of $0.18 per share when it actually produced earnings of $0.17, delivering a surprise of -5.56%.Over the last four quarters, the company has not been able to surpass consensus EPS estimates.Heartland Express, which belongs to the Zacks Transportation - Truck industry, posted revenues of $154.13 million for the quarter ended June 2021, missing the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 8.98%. This compares to year-ago revenues of $160.87 million. The company has not been able to beat consensus revenue estimates over the last four quarters.The sustainability of the stock's immediate price movement based on the recently-released numbers and future earnings expectations will mostly depend on management's commentary on the earnings call.Heartland Express shares have lost about 7.6% since the beginning of the year versus the S&P 500's gain of 15.2%.What's Next for Heartland Express?While Heartland Express has underperformed the market so far this year, the question that comes to investors' minds is: what's next for the stock?There are no easy answers to this key question, but one reliable measure that can help investors address this is the company's earnings outlook. Not only does this include current consensus earnings expectations for the coming quarter(s), but also how these expectations have changed lately.Empirical research shows a strong correlation between near-term stock movements and trends in earnings estimate revisions. Investors can track such revisions by themselves or rely on a tried-and-tested rating tool like the Zacks Rank, which has an impressive track record of harnessing the power of earnings estimate revisions.Ahead of this earnings release, the estimate revisions trend for Heartland Express was unfavorable. While the magnitude and direction of estimate revisions could change following the company's just-released earnings report, the current status translates into a Zacks Rank #4 (Sell) for the stock. So, the shares are expected to underperform the market in the near future. You can see the complete list of today's Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.It will be interesting to see how estimates for the coming quarters and current fiscal year change in the days ahead. The current consensus EPS estimate is $0.31 on $174.04 million in revenues for the coming quarter and $0.98 on $668.85 million in revenues for the current fiscal year.Investors should be mindful of the fact that the outlook for the industry can have a material impact on the performance of the stock as well. In terms of the Zacks Industry Rank, Transportation - Truck is currently in the top 17% of the 250 plus Zacks industries. 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. 5 Stocks Set to Double Each was hand-picked by a Zacks expert as the #1 favorite stock to gain +100% or more in 2021. Each comes from a different sector and has unique qualities and catalysts that could fuel exceptional growth. Most of the stocks in this report are flying under Wall Street radar, which provides a great opportunity to get in on the ground floor. Today, See These 5 Potential Home Runs >>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 Heartland Express, Inc. (HTLD): Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Zacks Investment Research