FedEx Corporation FDX reported its first-quarter earnings on Wednesday. Shares of the company are up four percent.
Below are some key highlights and takeaways from its conference call.
• Solid volume and revenue increases at Freight; and volume and yield growth at Express.
• We expect continued revenue and earnings growth in fiscal year 2015, assuming moderate global economic growth and stable fuel prices.
• Clearly more customers are relying on FedEx because they appreciate the competitive advantages provided by our portfolio of solutions.
• FedEx Ground's performance was driven primarily by higher average daily volume as a result of increasing e-commerce.
• At FedEx Freight, increased revenue per shipment and strong LTL shipment growth drove operating margins higher.
• FedEx Express's operating income and margin improved, and we are confident we will achieve our profit improvement program goals.
• FedEx Express, FedEx Ground and FedEx Freight will be increasing shipping rates an average of 4.9% effective January 5 of 2015.
Financial Results:
• With private sector demand accelerating and fiscal austerity winding down, our expectation for real GDP growth is to average around 3% for the remainder of this year and next.
• We have increased our expectations for industrial production growth to 4.1% this year and 3.8% in calendar 2015.
• The U.S. is leading the way and emerging markets are picking up. We expect global growth of 2.6% in calendar 2014 and 3.1% for calendar 2015.
• We had an outstanding first quarter with EPS of $2.10 a share and an 8.5% operating margin.
• Revenue growth from increased volumes and yields drove a significant increase in earnings for each of our transportation segments.
• Our sales team is executing our improved revenue quality strategy at a very high level.
• In Q1 we repurchased 5.3 million shares of FedEx common stock and completed the share repurchase program that we announced in FY 2014.
• The repurchase program had a $0.15 per share year-over-year positive impact on our EPS this quarter.
Guidance:
• We're expecting another record peak season in terms of delivery volume. Peak will once again be compressed this year with Cyber Monday falling on December 1.
• We've been in active dialogue with our retail and e-tail customers all year to understand their peak shipping needs and plan our operations accordingly.
• We expect more than 50,000 seasonal positions to be added for the upcoming peak across the FedEx operating companies.
• This includes package handlers, helpers, drivers and other support positions.
• We reaffirm our FY 2015 earnings per share forecast of $8.50 to $9.00 a share.
• Our outlook depends on key external factors, including fuel prices and the pace of improvement in the global economy.
• Revenue and earnings growth are expected to continue into the second quarter and the remainder of FY 2015.
• Profit improvement programs that we announced in FY 2013 will add to our FY 2015 results as we continue to execute on them.
• Every new 767 replacement aircraft should add about $10 million annually to profits.
• There are many other initiatives that we are working on at Express.
• We had an excellent quarter and we are looking forward to a very good year.
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