Tag: FedEx

UPS officials take a decidedly disinterested public stance toward the price of their company’s stock. Chief Executive Mike Eskew says he checks the price occasionally but views Wall Street’s ups and downs as a distraction from his job of managing the Sandy Springs delivery giant “for the next quarter-century, not the next quarter.” But it’s hard not to notice that archrival FedEx has outperformed UPS on the New York Stock Exchange for five of the last six calendar years. UPS issued its first public stock in late 1999 at UD50. Shares shot to almost USD76 in the first two days of trading, then settled in the high USD60s. Since then, UPS shares have had three losing years and three gainers. They closed last week at USD76.25. FedEx has been a steadier growth stock, posting annual gains in all but one year since 2000. During that time, shares have climbed from about USD40 a share to over UD100, closing Friday at USD105.05. In the past six months, FedEx shares climbed almost 25 percent while UPS rose 5.4 percent. Art Hatfield, transportation analyst at Morgan Keegan & Co. in Memphis said investors lately are concerned about UPS’ ability to expand profit margins as well as stalled pilot contract talks.