UPS turns in strong third quarter earnings results

Earlier today, Atlanta-based global freight transportation and logistics services provider UPS reported strong third quarter earnings results.

Quarterly revenue—at $23.2 billion—saw a 9.2% annual increase, and adjusted earnings per share—at $2.65—was up 9.2%, for the same period. And operating profit—at $3.0 billion—was up 23.4%.

“Looking at the third quarter, our performance was better than anticipated,” said UPS CEO Carol Tomé on the company’s earnings call this morning. “[It was] driven by another quarter of improved revenue quality across all three of our operating segments. Operating profit was driven by solid revenue growth and strong expense control. Each of our segments delivered year-over-year operating improvement and double-digit operating margin. For the first nine months of 2021, UPS has generated more operating profit than any full-year in our history.”

Individual segment results for Q1:

• U.S. domestic package revenue increased 7.4%, to $14.208 billion, paced by a 12.0% increase in revenue per piece, to $11.19, with strong growth across all products, and average daily volume was down 2.7%, to 19.835 million daily packages;
• International package revenue rose 15.5%, to $4.720 billion, driven by strong growth across all regions, and revenue per package, at $19.80, headed up 14.0%. Average daily package volume, at 3.456 million packages, was up 1.9%; and
• Supply chain solutions (including Forwarding and Logistics) revenue, at $4.256 billion, rose 8.4%

On the earnings call, CEO Tomé said that UPS is laser-focused on adding capabilities that enable UPS to grow with SMBs (small- and medium-sized businesses), with these improvements also benefitting large customers that value UPS’s end-to-end network. Expanded weekend delivery services were cited as one of these new capabilities and will be completed in the U.S. by the end of this week, and will cover about 90% of the U.S. population on Saturday, for both residential and commercial pickups and deliveries.

“These Saturday services provide more capacity for Sunday SurePost delivery [its hybrid delivery product using the USPS for the final mile],” she said. “The best part…is we have unlocked additional weekend capacity that benefits all customers without deploying additional capital.”

Looking at the fourth quarter, she described the current state of the global supply chain market as challenging, with capacity, congestion, and cost concerns. Even with these challenges, though, she described the outlook for UPS as positive, saying once UPS gets a package, it gets the package delivered. And outside of the U.S., she said that tight capacity benefits its freight forwarding business.

“In the U.S., we project a robust Peak Season,” she said. “Through our planning efforts, we believe we are well underway to deliver a Peak that will be a win for UPS shippers, recipients, and shareowners.”

One reason for this, she cited, is calendar-related, as UPS has one more Peak operating day than last year, and the company has expanded weekend delivery and added additional sorting capacity.

“We expect consumer demand will outpace capacity in the market,” she said. “We began collaborating with our largest customers several months ago and will stay in close contact with them during the holiday shipping season. Our technology allows us to match daily capacity with customer demand, and where we need to, we will again control the amount of volume that enters our network. These actions will minimize chaos costs and enable high service levels.”   

While remaining very focused on Peak Season, Tomé said that later this week UPS will release its 2022 U.S. GRI (general rate increase), of 5.9%, which she said reflects the value of the services UPS offers and also cost inflation pressures.

UPS Chief Financial Officer Brian Newman explained on the earnings call that the global economy continued its strong growth in the third quarter, despite the dampening effects of COVID-19 and inflation, as well as shortages in inventory and labor.

“Within this backdrop, demand for our services remained high and the pricing environment in the industry was firm,” he said. “We expect similar dynamics in the fourth quarter, and as we demonstrated in the third quarter, we will continue to execute our strategy and capture profitable growth opportunities in the market.

He also referenced a recent fourth quarter global GDP estimate by IHS, at 3.8% and U.S. GDP, at 4.9%, with both above historic GDP growth rates.

Jerry Hempstead, president of Hempstead Consulting, observed that UPS had an amazing quarter, with extremely good volume growth.

“UPS managed costs well, and it raised prices, all of which resulted in a positive three months for shareholders, but the earnings call had bad news for shippers as rates will be going up 5.9% in general and the fuel surcharge is going up 1% in November, just in time for the Peak Season,” he said.

Hempstead noted it was interesting to see a decline in SurePost, for the third quarter.

“We saw that in a big way in the last FedEx call, but the diversion of shipments to their own drivers was very intentional and the strategy pre-announced,” he said. “The change at UPS from the shipper selection of SurePost to traditional ground may be a function of price charged, as the USPS has increased its cost to UPS, and UPS has passed on those changes in the prices charged. Since so much volume move through enterprise systems that can rate shop, it’s computers that are making the choices of Ground over SurePost.”

And Rick Watson, Founder and CEO of New York-based RMW Commerce Consulting, said that today’s earnings call highlighted what a disciplined company looks like—one which has clearly prioritized and optimized for higher-margin SMB small parcel volume.

“The biggest thing to stand out is how today’s call contrasts with FedEx’s earnings call a few weeks back,” he said. “UPS is markedly doing much better—they are increasing package volume, raising revenue, raising profit, increasing network utilization, and reducing nbsp;direct labor hours all at the same time. That is impressive. FedEx reported higher labor costs, inability to hire leading to less efficient network, which means parcel delivery times are suffering and profitability is down. Meanwhile, UPS said ‘there are higher labor costs and we are managing it’ and they’ll control volume entering network to eliminate ‘chaos costs.’”