Thursday, September 19, 2024

A Potential Breakdown In The Transportation Sector, Part II (FDX; UPS)

From ZeroHedge, September 19:

Fedex Crashes After Missing Across The Board, Cutting Guidance On "Weaker Demand Trends"

After the post rate-cut meltup sent stocks to record highs on Thursday - even though the S&P was actually flat during the cash session with all gains taking place during the Asian/European sessions...

... the sweet taste of victory for the bulls was diluted moments ago when one of the most important logistic bellwethers for the US economy left a proverbial turd in the punchbowl after Fedex stock tumbled as much as 11% after hours when it cut the top end of its full-year profit outlook and reported quarterly earnings below expectations on softer demand for package deliveries.

This is what FedEx reported for fiscal Q1:

  • Revenue $21.6 billion, missing estimates of $21.93 billion
  • Adjusted EPS $3.60, down from $4.37 YoY, and missing estimates of $4.77
  • Adjusted operating income $1.21 billion, missing estimate $1.63 billion
  • Adjusted operating margin 5.6%, missing estimate 7.41%

....MUCH MORE

After hours 267.10 −33.29 (11.08%)

And the introduction to what has now become "part I" (sort of how The Great War became WWI after September 1939):

A Potential Breakdown In The Transportation Sector

The trannies (DJTI) are not as reliable a leading, coincident/confirming indicator as they were when they were known as the Rails. The addition of passenger airlines to the Dow Jones Transportation Average - now five of the twenty components - and stuff like Avis Budget car rental and Uber meant analysts had to try other metrics e.g. the cardboard box index—which has problems including volatility and not capturing a large portion of the economy i.e. digital, asset light, intellectual property GDP generators.

So back to transportation, 2024 style. Lifted in toto from chartmeister Tim Knight at Slope of Hope, September 13....