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FedEx investors will want to hear from management after a disappointing update given a week ago.
Joe Raedle/Getty Images
Shipping giant
FedEx
reports its fiscal first-quarter financial results after the close of trading on Thursday, but investors already know the numbers were awful. Now they want answers.
On Sept. 15,
FedEx
(ticker: FDX) prereleased the numbers, saying it earned $3.44 a share from $23.2 billion in sales in its first quarter of fiscal 2023, the three months that ended in August. Wall Street was looking for $5.10 in per-share earnings from $23.5 billion in sales.
FedEx
earned $6.87 a share in the fiscal fourth quarter and $4.37 a share in the first quarter of fiscal year 2022.
Shares tumbled 21.4% in response. It was the worst day for the stock, scanning all the available data back to 1978, according to Dow Jones Market Data.
The early announcement means there is little risk attached to the coming quarterly report, but that isn’t much comfort to investors. After the plunge, the shares are down about 41% so far this year, while the
S&P 500
and
Dow Jones Industrial Average
are off 20% and 17%, respectively.
Instead of watching for an earnings beat or miss, investors will want to hear more from management about the global slowdown the company cited when disclosing the disappointing results. They will also be asking about how fast FedEx can cut costs to preserve profit margins and when things might turn around.
Management scheduled a conference call at 5:30 p.m. Eastern time to discuss the results.
Options markets still imply the stock will move 5%, up or down, following the earnings. Think of it as aftershocks from the original earthquake.
Write to Al Root at [email protected]
Source: https://www.barrons.com/articles/fedex-earnings-stock-51663797186?siteid=yhoof2&yptr=yahoo