NEW YORK - FedEx says it swung to a loss in the fourth-quarter because of high fuel costs and issued an earnings guidance that is well below Wall Street's expectations.

FedEx sees 2009 earnings of $4.75 to $5.25 per share. Wall Street had predicted $5.92 per share. The package delivery company expects to earn 80 cents to $1 per share in the first-quarter. Analysts forecast $1.27 per share.

Memphis-based FedEx Corp. on Wednesday posted a loss of $241 million, or 78 cents per share, compared with a year-ago profit of $610 million, or $1.96 per share. Excluding one-time charges, FedEx earned $1.45 per share.

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Revenue rose 8 percent to $9.87 billion, from $9.15 billion a year earlier.

Analysts polled by Thomson Financial expected $1.47 per share on revenue of $9.6 billion.

Too bad Fred is so stubborn about focusing on just delivering packages. UPS years ago decided to diversify on total supply chain management, not just package delivery.


http://www.forbes.com/business/2008/...a_0606ups.html

this was also in the story...

Excluding one-time charges, FedEx earned $1.45 per share.

and

Fourth-quarter earnings included a one-time charge of $891 million for the expected costs of renaming the company's office service and copying division from FedEx Kinko's to FedEx Office.

so, the questionable Kinko's to Office switch was the reason for the loss. (would have been a profit of $650 million)

let's not panic yet--if the company was so worried, why would they make the name change and raise the dividends?

almost sounds like reteroic for the next contract already.

Ding, Ding, Ding....we have a winner.

These numbers are for "FEDEX" ---- what were the separate operating numbers and "cash flow" numbers associated with "FEDEX Express"?

Hopefully, ALPA Nationals got some good accountants working up there in Herndon, not just good lawyers.

Scott Stratten on our R&I called this in Feb. He predicted some "kitchen sink" accounting (where a company throws all the bad news out in a bad quarter to get the pain over with...) and told us to expect it. He was spot on.

The big number is compare the buck forty five to previous quarters. Not good, and the trend is down....but it was NOT a loss.

Since Jan08 this company's stock has hit lows of around $80/share and then rebound. With the charge, name change and high fuel prices and sharks swimming in the pool...and if $80 can hold...it's buy, buy, buy. Caveat, it's only an short termer imo. The overall trend in the economy is still down until the Congress can get its act together....drill, drill, drill...ha, ha, ha...made a funny!

Fat, dumb and senior

Per CNBC, out of 15 analyists on FDX "...no one is mentioning the 8% increase in revenue..."


5 strong buy
2 buy
8 hold

And just the airline side of things....

FedEx Express Segment

For the fourth quarter, the FedEx Express segment reported:

Revenue of $6.37 billion, up 9% from last year’s $5.83 billion
Operating income of $426 million, down 31% from $613 million last year
Operating margin of 6.7%, down from 10.5% the previous year
IP package revenue grew 16% for the quarter, as IP revenue per package grew 11%, primarily due to higher fuel surcharges and favorable exchange rates. IP average daily package volume grew 6%, led by increases in volume from Asia, the United States and Europe. U.S. domestic revenue per package increased 9% due to increased fuel surcharges and higher rate per pound, while package volume declined by 3%.

Operating income and margin were negatively impacted by continued softness in the U.S. economy, escalating fuel prices and one fewer operating day, which more than offset the benefits of international revenue growth and exchange rates. Last year’s fourth quarter results benefited from the Airbus A380 settlement.

on the pilot web site the "operating income" is listed as "operating profit"

so.....I read this as profits were down 31%, but FedEx Express still made a $426 million PROFIT for the fourth quarter alone (just the airline).

is that right?

and ONLY making a 6.7% profit overall vs. 10.5% same quarter last year.

even with all those mitigating factors that they try to list......these are still some VERY impressive PROFITS!!!

could it be that someone has just mismanaged (grossly) the pilot manning situation (and perhaps the incentives to man the FDAs) and that the company isn't really in any kind of financial trouble after all? (even with $130+/barrel oil) hmmmmm?

Ok if you take $1.13B and add $891M we would have made the EXACT SAME PROFIT as last year! I understand that economic times are hard (domestic is down) but we made the same as last year but the Kinko's to FDX Office cost made the difference. Does anyone know if the money allocated for the B757 and B777 came out of last year's profits?

Full Year Results

FedEx Corp. reported the following consolidated results for the full year:

* Revenue of $38.0 billion, up 8% from $35.2 billion the previous year
* Operating income of $2.08 billion, down 37% from $3.28 billion last year
* Net income of $1.13 billion, down 44% from last year’s $2.02 billion
* Earnings per share of $3.60, down 44% from $6.48 per share a year ago