|
UPS delivers strong 3Q
|
 |
October 19, 2000: 10:38 a.m. ET
Package delivery leader tops Wall Street estimates by 2 cents a share
|
NEW YORK (CNNfn) - United Parcel Service delivered better-than-expected third-quarter earnings Thursday, as it overcame higher fuel prices, a weak euro and a slowing U.S. economy.
Atlanta-based UPS (UPS: Research, Estimates) reported net income of $702 million, or 60 cents a diluted share, up from $577 million, or 52 cents a share, in the year-earlier quarter. Earnings tracker First Call had expected 58 cents a share in the latest period.
 This is only the fourth earnings report for the company as a public company, after an initial public offering last November. While it has never missed forecasts, investors have generally not reacted favorably to the previous reports. But the stock gained $5.06, or 9.5 percent, to $58.13 in trading Thursday after the release.
Revenues rose nearly 10 percent to $7.4 billion. UPS said it expects a solid fourth quarter and holiday volume should produce a one-day peak of 19 million deliveries.
"Our domestic core business is expanding and quite healthy; our international growth continues to be robust," said James Kelly, the chairman and chief executive of the world's largest transportation company.
Analysts said the results looked good, despite some softness in yields paid by customers. Ed Wolfe of Bear Stearns attributed some of the company's success to better domestic cost controls.
The ratio of operating expenses to revenue, a key measure of a freight carrier's financial performance, was 82.4 percent for domestic package operations, an improvement from the 83.6 percent ratio a year earlier.
As a result of the report, Wolfe said he would be raising his estimate for UPS's fourth quarter closer to the consensus forecast of 64 cents a share from his current 61-cent-a-share estimate. 
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
