UPS shares slide on earnings miss, guidance cut

United Parcel Service on Tuesday reported profit and revenue for the second quarter that came in below expectations and cut its 2024 revenue guidance. The company’s shares were down 9% in premarket trading.

UPS now expects 2024 revenue to be approximately $93 billion, revised from a previous forecast for as much as $94.5 billion. Full-year capital expenditures, however, are now expected at around $4 billion, rather than the previous $4.5 billion.

The company also announced it’s targeting around $500 million in share repurchases in 2024.

UPS noted that the guidance does not include the impacts of the recently announced sale of its trucking business Coyote Logistics to RXO Logistics. The transaction is expected to close by the end of the year, UPS said in a previous press release.

The company also recently entered into an agreement to acquire Mexican express delivery company Estafeta, as it continues to expand its international presence.

Here’s how the shipping giant did in the quarter ended June 30 compared with what Wall Street was anticipating, based on a survey of analysts by LSEG:

• Earnings per share: $1.79 cents adjusted vs. $1.99 expected
• Revenue: $21.8 billion vs. $22.18 billion expected

The company’s reported net income for the quarter was $1.41 billion, or $1.65 cents per share, compared with $2.08 billion, or $2.42 per share, a year earlier. Adjusting for the impact of settling an “international regulatory matter,” UPS posted earnings of $1.79 per share.

The company reported operating profit of $1.94 billion, down from $2.78 billion a year earlier.

“This quarter was a significant turning point for our company as we returned to volume growth in the U.S., the first time in nine quarters,” UPS Chief Executive Officer Carol Tomé said in the company’s earnings release. “As expected, our operating profit declined in the first half of 2024 from what we reported last year. Going forward we expect to return to operating profit growth.”

Revenue also fell to $21.82 billion, down from $22.06 billion a year earlier, mainly due to declines in the company’s domestic and international segments.

Its U.S. operation saw a 1.9% decrease in revenue, which the company said was due primarily to changes in product mix. The international segment saw a 1% decline in revenue, which UPS attributes to a 2.9% decrease in average daily volume.

The company’s third segment, supply chain solutions, increased its revenue by 2.6% from same time last year, due primarily to growth in logistics, including health care.

The report comes as weak freight demand and soft pricing in the shipping sector is causing what some call a global freight recession. Investors had turned to UPS earnings to understand whether demand was improving.

UPS recently snagged an air cargo contract with the United States Postal Service from rival FedEx. UPS will become USPS’ primary air cargo provider starting Sept. 30, after FedEx’s current contract expires.

Although financial details of the deal were previously undisclosed, UPS referred to the award as “significant” in an April press release. The deal brought in $1.75 billion to FedEx in fiscal 2023, that company said.

Correction: UPS reported second-quarter profit and revenue on Tuesday. An earlier version misstated the day.