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FedEx (FDX) to Report Q2 Earnings: What's in the Offing?

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FedEx Corporation (FDX - Free Report) is set to release second-quarter fiscal 2023 (ended Nov 30) results on Dec 20, after market close.

FDX has a disappointing surprise record with its earnings per share outperforming the Zacks Consensus Estimate in only one of the preceding four quarters while missing in the other three. The average beat is 1.17%.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for earnings in the fiscal second quarter has been revised 0.36% downward in the past 60 days.

Against this backdrop, let’s look into the factors that are likely to have impacted FedEx’s second-quarter fiscal 2023 performance.

Similar to the fiscal first quarter, global volume weakness is likely to have impacted FedEx’s second-quarter fiscal 2023 performance negatively.

Macroeconomic weakness in Asia and service challenges in Europe are likely to affect the results of the FedEx Express segment. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Express’ revenues in the fiscal second quarter suggests a 1.1% decline from the year-ago fiscal quarter’s reported number. Our fiscal second-quarter estimate for the metric indicates a decline of 1.7% year over year.

Moreover, elevated operating expenses pertaining to labor market woes and wage pressure as well as increased costs related to network expansion are expected to have dented the bottom-line performance in the to-be-reported fiscal quarter. Due to high costs, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for operating income at FedEx’s Ground unit indicates a 17.3% decline from the year-ago fiscal quarter’s reported figure.

However, yield-related improvements, including fuel surcharge increases, are likely to have aided the top-line performance in the to-be-reported quarter.

What Does the Zacks Model Say?

The proven Zacks model does not conclusively predict an earnings beat for FedEx this time around. The combination of a positive Earnings ESP and a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), 2 (Buy) or 3 (Hold) increases the odds of a positive earnings surprise. However, that is not the case here. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

Earnings ESP: FedEx has an Earnings ESP of 0.00% as the Most Accurate Estimate is pegged at $2.78, in-line with the Zacks Consensus Estimate. You can uncover the best stocks to buy or sell before they’re reported with our Earnings ESP Filter.

Zacks Rank: FedEx currently carries a Zacks Rank #3.

Highlights of Q1 Earnings

FedEx's first-quarter fiscal 2023 (ended Aug 31) earnings (excluding 10 cents from non-recurring items) of $3.44 per share missed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $3.69. Quarterly revenues of $23,200 million fell short of the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $23,213.4 million but increased 5.44% from the year-ago fiscal quarter’s reported figure.

Recap of Recent Results From the Industry

Below we present the latest quarterly results of United Parcel Service (UPS - Free Report) and Air Transport Services (ATSG - Free Report) , which belong to the same industry as FedEx.

UPS’ earnings (excluding 3 cents from non-recurring items) of $2.99 per share beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $2.84 per share. The earnings beat was primarily owing to higher delivery prices. Favorable pricing was more than offset the downside caused by declining shipping volumes. The bottom line increased 10.33% year over year.

Quarterly revenues of $24,161 million fell short of the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $24,319.8 million. The top line, however, increased 4.2% year over year, driven by the uptick in revenue per piece shipped.

Air Transport Services’ third-quarter 2022 earnings (excluding 8 cents from non-recurring items) of 60 cents per share surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 53 cents per share. The bottom line was flat year over year. Revenues rose 10.9% year over year to $517 million, surpassing the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $499 million. 


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