Friday, May 15, 2009

FedEx Shares Fall; Outlook Better Than Rival’s

Shares of FedEx Corp. fell Monday as the broader markets lost ground, and an analyst said the company’s aggressive cost cuts might not be enough to offset the steep decline in volumes and the expected rise in fuel prices.

Stifel Nicolaus analyst David Ross cut the stock to “hold,” saying it won’t likely rise enough in the next several quarters to justify his previous “buy” rating.

He predicted shares will remain “range-bound” while uncertainty lingers about the timing and strength of economic recovery. Ross also forecast that the company’s volumes won’t get much better until next year.

FedEx has other problems that might tug on growth potential in the near future, the analyst said. A bill currently before Congress would make unionization easier – something that would likely drive up labor and other costs at the company. Rising fuel prices and pension liabilities will also affect growth, he said.

In the long run, Ross said he recommends FedEx over larger rival UPS Inc. because of its greater potential to improve margins and overall sales. But he suggested investors shouldn’t buy FedEx shares until they fall to about $50.

FedEx shares lost $2.36, or 3.9 percent, to $57.70 in afternoon trading. The stock has traded as high as $96.65 and as low as $34.02 in the past year.

Article from Memphis Daliy News, 5-12-09

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

If fedex is telling the truth about our money matters they would force out all operations mgrs right now and have the service center mgrs work 11 hrs a day until this recession is over. The
freight vollumes are low so why do some yards still have 2 dispatchers 2 am dock or pm dock supervisors Chuck Crawford could handle all the all shops and they could cut all shop supervisors today or move them back to maintance II OR III, And while were at it Have some hourly folks fill in and help run the docks. All supervisors and or mgrs should be working 11 hrs a day right now that's why fedex pays them so well and we could cut a few airline pilots this could save about ten million dollars a year. Fedex decided to steal our benefits and lower our retirment packages while keeping all these over paid mgrs and supervisors that only work 9 to 10 hrs a day, some even 8.5 hrs a day when they can swing it. If they can pay these clowns so well, they may as well pay us Union wages too.

frankiez said...

From what I read a,"HOLD", is Wall Streets code for SELL.
Don't forget if you own Fredex stock you can cast your vote against Fred Smith when you receive your proxy vote.
If nothing else it will let him know that not everyone gets a warm and fuzzy feeling every time they hear his name.
Don't Shoot the Messenger
Frankiez

Northwest Watchdog said...

". . . and we could cut a few airline pilots this could save about ten million dollars a year."

This is exactly what the company is looking for. If you don't understand the idea of divide and conquer, I now present to you a concrete example.

The pilots are divided from the rest of us in many ways: first and foremost, the pilots are Teamsters. Because of that, the company pays them better (because of a contract). Furthermore, they are not easily replaced, thus, they get more respect as incentive to keep them satisfied and doing the job. Oh yeah, and because of a contract.

On the other hand, dockworkers are not organized in a union, so the company only needs to pay what is called a "competitive wage." 'Competitive wage' means nothing more than paying people just enough to keep them from walking out the door. After all, who, then, will move the freight?

Dockworkers, as opposed to pilots, require no training and are easily replaced, thus they get little if any respect from the company. After all, why bother expending time and money on people who can be relaced by the next application down in the stack?

Those are only two of the many ways we are divided. Now I will illuminate the conquering aspect of this method of control.

By giving us time and letting us see that some employees are, shall we say, different than others, the management only need sit back and watch us eat each other alive--like animals in a cage after Fred Smith throws in a piece of meat.

Look at the above sentence regarding laying off pilots; we have helped the company put forth the notion that some employees should be fired. Hell, we're even supporting the company's layoff proceedures!

Brothers and sisters, be careful. If we become a union, it will mean all for one, and by necessity, one for all!

DO NOT HELP THESE LYING SONS OF BITCHES DIVIDE US! EVERY WORKER IS CRUCIAL THE TEAM!

Besides, the pilots are Teamsters. Why else do you think they have it better than us? ;-)

Anonymous said...

your right they should only fire red shirts and move some of us dock and drivers into managemnt training so we can start with fresh supervisors that not only know what to do and how to do, after 15 years I know we can do it just as good if not better. they have not fired, cut, or changed any supervisors in our local yards and its time they did. However we still want and need the Teamsters and a binding contract, but the old managers and supervisors need to go because the bridge is broken and can't be repaired with these folks.

Anonymous said...

LAYOFF PROCEEDURES YA RIGHT, HEY YOU SIGN THIS PART TIME STATUS CHANGE FORM AND GIVE US BACK THOSE BENEFITS AND TOMORROW YOUR NEW HOURS ARE 3 TO 5 A DAY MAYBE 6 IF WE LIKE YOU, OR YOU CAN JUST QUIT AND WELL GIVE YOU A FEW WEEKS PAY. ALL OF THOSE AFFECTED SHOULD HAVE TAKEN THE LAYOFF AND GONE ON UNEMPLOYMENT WHERE FEDEX WOULD HAVE HAD TO PAY A BIG SHARE.