United Parcel Service, Inc. (NYSE: UPS) is currently halted on NYSE trading. Big Brown decided it better follow the lead of FedEx Corp. (NYSE: FDX) and come clean with an earnings warning. You can guess the two culprits, demand issues on lower than expected package volume and high energy costs. The company now put earnings in a range of $0.83 to $0.88 EPS, down from a prior guidance of $0.97 EPS to $1.04 EPS.
The company did note that supply chain and freight unit performance have exceeded expectations. On the lower demand, the company noted specifically that it has seen an accelerating contraction in the use of premium air products.
The formal earnings date will be released on July 22. Shares were halted at $66.26 before the halt, and the 52-week range is $64.01 to $78.99.
We may see new 52-week lows and we may not. After the FedEx earnings warning over the exact same thing this should have been mostly anticipated.
Jon C. Ogg
June 23, 2008