Analyst: United Parcel Service Inc. Stock Is 'Dead Money' Until FY15 Q4

United Parcel Service Inc.'s

"investment story" is becoming all about the fourth quarter, and the current chapter is scary, an analyst said Friday. The Atlanta-based package delivery service warned Friday that results from the recent period were significantly below expectations. Its shares fell more than 9 percent recently to $103.49. "This is two straight years of peak season weighing significantly on the company's results," according to Raymond James' Arthur W. Hatfield, who downgraded UPS to Market Perform, from Outperform,. The disappointment comes "even as it spent all of 2014 trying to correct what caught it off guard last year," Hatfield said. Unless significant improvements soon materialize, "the stock will be dead money" until results for the fourth quarter of 2015 are clear, Hatfield said. The company blamed higher costs and a strong dollar for the shortfall. After a spate of late deliveries during the 2013 holiday period hurt results, UPS added extra holiday capacity, in effect over-compensating. Also Friday, UPS cut its 2015 guidance and implied that earnings will be under $5.18 a share, according to Hatfield; Wall Street expected $5.64 a share.