UPS: 4th quarter sales disappoint

(CercleFinance.com) - On Tuesday, UPS reported a slightly better-than-expected quarterly profit, but also lower-than-expected sales.
This underperformance was punished by a drop of more than 4% in its share price in after-hours trading.

The US express and parcel delivery giant posted fourth-quarter operating profit of $2.5 billion, down 22.5% year-on-year.

At $2.47, earnings per share (EPS) were just ahead of the $2.46 analyst consensus.

But the American group, often regarded as a barometer of economic activity in the US, saw its sales fall by 7.8% to $24.9 billion over the last three months of the year, below the consensus figure of $25.5 billion.

For 2024, the Atlanta-based group said it expected annual sales of between $92 and $94.5 billion, compared with $91 billion in 2023.

Its adjusted operating margin is expected to be between 10% and 10.6%, down from the 10.9% recorded last year.

UPS also announced a one-cent increase in its quarterly dividend, which will rise to $1.63, although this did not prevent it from losing more than 4% in pre-market trading following this publication.

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