From the Dow Jones Newswires
- FedEx Corp.'s (FDX) fiscal third-quarter earnings more than doubled from a year earlier in a period the shipping company said hosted record holiday package shipping.
- The company's role in transporting everything from holiday gifts to electronics from China makes it a closely watched gauge on the health of the global economy.
- The ground shipping division has been a strong performer for FedEx in recent quarters, helping to ease the impact of weaker corporate demand for the company's air cargo services, particularly on its routes fromAsia .
- For the quarter ended Feb. 29 ,FedEx reported a profit of$521 million , up sharply from a year-earlier profit of$231 million . Per-share earnings rose to$ 1.65 from73 cents a year ago.
- Stripping out items like costs tied to the combination of the company's FedEx Freight and FedEx National LTL operations, per-share earnings rose to $1.55 from81 cents . The company's December forecast called for earnings of$1.25 to $1.45 a share.
- Revenue rose 9% to $10.56 billion , just shy of the$10.6 billion estimate held by analysts polled by Thomson Reuters.
- Operating margin widened to 7.7% from 4.1%.
- The express-shipping business--by far the largest top-line contributor--saw revenue rise 8% to $6.54 billion , helping to drive a 96% improvement in the segment's operating profit. Daily package volume fell 4% in the U.S. and 1% abroad.
- Meanwhile, the ground-shipping business posted an 14% jump in revenue to $2.48 billion . Operating profit was up 43%. Volume grew 5%, driven by increases in FedEx Home Delivery services as well as the business-to-business market.
- Pointing to the current quarter, the company forecast earnings of $1.75 to $2 a share, bracketing the$1.98 a share currently expected by analysts polled by Thomson Reuters.
- Shares closed Wednesday at $95.82 and were unchanged in premarket trade. The stock is up 15% since the start of the year.
 
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