Earnings Watch: UPS, Daimler Record Big Profits
Two of the biggest names in trucking, one in the shipping business and the other in the manufacturing sector, reported their fourth quarter 2017 and full-year earnings on Thursday morning and both showed big gains.
Parcel delivery and trucking company UPS Inc. reported it moved back into the black in the fourth quarter of 2017 while reporting a bigger profit for all of last year.
Net income during the final three months of 2017 totaled $1.1 billion, or $1.27 per share, compared to a net loss a year earlier of $239 million, or 27 cents per share.
The company reported that fourth quarter 2017 net profit was partially boosted by $258 million, or 30 cents per share, in tax savings due to the federal tax reform bill passed and signed into law in December. The results were also affected by an $800 million pre-tax pension charge.
Revenue in the most recent quarter totaled $18.8 billion versus $16.9 billion for the fourth quarter of 2016.
For all of 2017, UPS said net income improved 43.1% from 2016 to $4.9 billion as total revenue increased 8.2% to $65.9 billion.
“We made significant progress on key capacity investments in 2017. Our momentum, transformative actions, and the economic catalyst from the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act position UPS for growth in 2018 and beyond,” said David Abney, UPS chairman and CEO.
The company’s supply chain and freight segment produced record full-year and fourth-quarter results with a 21% hike in revenue, which totaled $3.2 billion for the fourth quarter of 2017. Operating profit was $142 million compared to an operating loss of $139 million a year earlier. Tonnage gains in freight forwarding, UPS Freight, and Coyote Logistics contributed to improved top-line results, according to the company.
Revenue at its core domestic package service rose 8.4% to $11.84 billion in the most recent quarter …Read the rest of this story
