FedEx Earnings Reveal Struggles But Investors Cheering The Cost Declines

Let me break it down for you like a 5 year old what happened on this earnings call:

Volume go down.

Costs go down.

Prices go up.

Customers not go up.

But costs go down a little faster than we predicted, so we are crushing it. Why are we crushing it? We introduced a new named program called DRIVE. When Fortune 500 companies name an initiative it always succeeds! Like the famous Wile-E-Coyote, this will catapult us into the future!

Let us tell you about DRIVE:

* We are closing sort centers.

* We are closing other facilities.

* We have parked 9 planes so far and are parking 6 more.

* We are selling equipment and reducing vendor utilization.

* We have mothballed delivery vehicles.

This is what DRIVE is all about. Actually, our first thought was to call it PARK because all our vehicles are really parked -- it would be more accurate -- but our investor relations team advised against it.

It might upset the mood of our earnings call.

Here are a few other tidbits:

* FedEx Express, Ground, and Freight volumes all declined by 12% across all segments.

(Just for your comparison, UPS volume declined 3% in Q4 for their B2C shipments and 5% for freight).

* Ground increased its revenue per parcel by 11% and reduced costs.

* Express business is still declining, reduced flight hours by 8% so far to compensate. Adjusted operating income declined 81%. You know it's bad when the adjusted number is down 81%.

What FedEx did not speak about:

* What profitable customer segments they are targeting and growing.

* How they will gain volume share.

* New products, services or partnerships they are launching.

* How they will operate in this environment which could continue another 2 years.

This seems like a good place to stop.

Rick Watson

Rick Watson founded RMW Commerce Consulting after spending 20+ years as a technology entrepreneur and operator exclusively in the eCommerce industry with companies like ChannelAdvisor, BarnesandNoble.com, Merchantry, and Pitney Bowes.

Watson’s work today is centered on supporting investors and management teams incubating and growing direct-to-consumer businesses. Most recently, in partnership with WHP Global, Rick was a critical resource in architecting the WHP+ platform, a new turnkey direct to consumer digital e-commerce platform that powers AnneKlein.com and JosephAbboud.com.

Watson also hosts a weekly podcast, Watson Weekly, where he shares an unbiased, unfiltered expert take on the retail sector’s biggest players.

In the past year alone, Rick has spoken at many in-person and virtual events as well as podcasts on topics ranging from retail/ecom to supply chain/logistics and even digital grocery including CommerceNext IRL, ASCM Connect, and Retail Innovation Conference.

https://www.rmwcommerce.com/
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