UPS

Baird analyst Benjamin Hartford upgrades United Parcel Service (NYSE:UPS) from Neutral to Outperform and raises the price target from $165 to $170.

UPS is expected to deliver expanded margins with cost-cuts ahead, according to UBS analysts. They say in a research note that the recently announced 12,000 job reduction is a significant step in reducing costs, but they expect even more at the company’s March analyst meeting. UPS is seen with low expectation among investors, but the analysts see further cost-cuts, such as potentially using technology to lower headcount, driving margin upside in 2024. They upgrade shares to buy from neutral and raise their price target to $175 a share from $160. Shares rise 4.3% to $145.12.

United Parcel Service’s (UPS) cost reduction program is expected help its margin expansion and earnings growth despite muted revenue increase, UBS said in a report Tuesday. The firm said cost reduction through automation in buildings and rationalization of facilities can potentially support over $2 billion of annual cost savings for UPS over the coming years. UBS projects that UPS’ new cost saving programs can provide improved visibility to margin expansion in the domestic package business. “Domestic package margin is the most powerful lever for EPS generation for UPS,” the investment firm said. “Cost savings associated with a more efficient terminal network could come from lower facility and labor expense and also from savings in linehaul costs.” UBS upgraded UPS to buy from neutral and increased price target to $175 from $160. The company’s shares were up 4% in recent trading.

United Parcel Service (NYSE:UPS) Stock Analyst Ratings Date Upside/Downside Analyst Firm Price Target Change Rating Change Previous / Current Rating 02/06/2024 23.72% UBS $160 → $175 Upgrades Neutral → Buy 01/31/2024 23.72% Raymond James $185 → $175 Maintains Strong Buy 01/31/2024 13.11% BMO Capital $165 → $160 Maintains Market Perform 01/31/2024 6.04% Susquehanna $155 → $150 Maintains Neutral 01/31/2024 — Argus Research Downgrades Buy → Hold 01/31/2024 2.51% Barclays $150 → $145 Maintains Equal-Weight 01/16/2024 30.79% Raymond James $170 → $185 Maintains Strong Buy 01/10/2024 34.32% Stifel $180 → $190 Maintains Buy 12/26/2023 9.58% Daiwa Capital → $155 Downgrades Outperform → Neutral 12/21/2023 10.29% JP Morgan $165 → $156 Maintains Neutral 10/11/2023 25.84% JP Morgan $186 → $178 Maintains Neutral 10/02/2023 13.11% Susquehanna $173 → $160 Maintains Neutral 09/29/2023 41.39% Raymond James $205 → $200 Maintains Strong Buy 09/29/2023 20.18% HSBC → $170 Initiates Coverage On → Hold 09/28/2023 23.72%

UBS analyst Thomas Wadewitz upgrades United Parcel Service (NYSE:UPS) from Neutral to Buy and raises the price target from $160 to $175.

United Parcel Service (NYSE:UPS) Stock Analyst Ratings Date Upside/Downside Analyst Firm Price Target Change Rating Change Previous / Current Rating 01/31/2024 0.35% Barclays $150 → $145 Maintains Equal-Weight 01/16/2024 28.03% Raymond James $170 → $185 Maintains Strong Buy 01/10/2024 31.49% Stifel $180 → $190 Maintains Buy 12/26/2023 7.27% Daiwa Capital → $155 Downgrades Outperform → Neutral 12/21/2023 7.96% JP Morgan $165 → $156 Maintains Neutral 10/11/2023 23.18% JP Morgan $186 → $178 Maintains Neutral 10/02/2023 10.73% Susquehanna $173 → $160 Maintains Neutral 09/29/2023 38.41% Raymond James $205 → $200 Maintains Strong Buy 09/29/2023 17.65% HSBC → $170 Initiates Coverage On → Hold 09/28/2023 21.11% Barclays $180 → $175 Maintains Equal-Weight 09/18/2023 27.34% Oppenheimer $195 → $184 Maintains Outperform 09/14/2023 28.03% TD Cowen $190 → $185 Maintains Market Perform 09/12/2023 22.49% B of A Securities $190 → $177 Maintains Neutral 09/12/2023 23.88% Evercore ISI Group $185 → $179 Maintains In-Line 09/12/2023

Barclays analyst Brandon Oglenski maintains United Parcel Service (NYSE:UPS) with a Equal-Weight and lowers the price target from $150 to $145.

Morgan Stanley Cuts Price Target on United Parcel Service to $95 From $100 on ‘Structural Risks’ Facing ECommerce Parcel Delivery; Underweight Kept.

CFRA, an independent research provider, has provided MT Newswires with the following research alert. Analysts at CFRA have summarized their opinion as follows: Our 12-month target price of $154, raised by $4, reflects a 14.5x multiple on our 2025 EPS estimate, a discount to UPS’s historical forward average, which we see merited by risk of extended headwinds on volume growth. We cut our 2024 EPS estimate by $1.09 to $9.32 and start 2025’s at $10.60. Q4 EPS of $2.47 vs. $3.62, beat the consensus view by $0.01. UPS is cutting 12,000 jobs (about 2% of the workforce) as volumes remain sluggish, a carry-over of Q3 weakness. Average daily volume was down 7.5% in Q4, consistent with the September exit rate (down 7.4%). However, December volumes were only down mid-single digits, which suggests stronger potential for better comps to arrive at some point in 2024, probably in the second half of

The following is a summary of the United Parcel Service, Inc. (UPS) Q4 2023 Earnings Call Transcript: Financial Performance: UPS reported Q4 2023 revenue of $24.9 billion, a 7.8% decrease from the previous year and an operating profit of $2.8 billion, down by 27.1%. The company saw a 9.3% decrease in consolidated revenue for 2023 at $91 billion. Operating profit for the year totaled $9.9 billion, 28.7% lower than last year. Despite the fall in revenue, UPS generated $5.3 billion in free cash flow in 2023, returned $7.6 billion to shareholders through dividends and share repurchases. UPS expects 2024 consolidated revenue to range from $92 billion to $94.5 billion, and a consolidated operating margin between 10% to 10.6%. UPS Board approved a quarterly dividend increase, from $1.62 per share to $1.63 per share. It anticipates 1-2% fall in revenue growth in the first half of 2024 but expects an increase

By Tomi Kilgore A FedEx exec had said the company held on to ‘all’ of the market share it gained while UPS was negotiating with Teamsters ‘By the end of December, we had won back and pulled through nearly 60% of the volume diverted during our labor negotiation.’UPS Chief Executive Carol Tomé That, from a FactSet transcript of United Parcel Service Inc.’s fourth-quarter earnings call Tuesday, appears to be UPS Chief Executive Carol Tomé’s way of saying you shouldn’t believe rival FedEx Corp.’s recent claims on how much market share it’s been able to gain recently. In August, Tomé acknowledged that “late and loud” negotiations between UPS (UPS) and the Teamsters union had led to the more customers than expected going elsewhere to ship their goods. That labor friction, FedEx Chief Customer Officer Brie Carere said last summer, had “opened a lot of doors” to take share from UPS. Then,

United Parcel Service is one of the most mentioned companies in the U.S. across all news items in the last 12 hours, according to Factiva data. The package delivery company said it planned to reduce staff by about 12,000, and is expecting to cut costs by $1 billion this year. The company also said it is exploring strategic alternatives for its truckload brokerage business. Dow Jones & Co. owns Factiva.