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Seattle, Washington-based Expeditors International of Washington, Inc. (EXPD) is a leading third-party logistics provider. With a market cap of $16.6 billion, Expeditors offers global logistics management, including international freight forwarding and consolidation, for both air and ocean freight.
Expeditors has substantially lagged behind the broader market over the past year. EXPD stock prices have declined 6.5% in 2024 and gained 1.2% over the past year, underperforming the S&P 500 Index’s ($SPX) surge of 24.1% on a YTD basis and 30.1% over the past 52 weeks.
Narrowing the focus, Expeditors has also underperformed the ProShares Supply Chain Logistics ETF’s (SUPL) 2% gains in 2024 and 9.4% returns over the past year.
Expeditors International had a tough start to the year, as its stock prices plummeted 6.9% after the release of its FY 2023 earnings on Feb. 20. The company reported a massive 45.5% year-over-year drop in total revenues and a staggering 44.5% decline in net earnings to shareholders which shattered investors’ confidence.
However, Expeditors has shown improvement in its financials recently, its stock prices rose 1.4% after the release of its Q3 2024 earnings on Nov. 5. Its total revenues for the quarter rebounded around 37% compared to the year-ago quarter to $3 billion. Meanwhile, its net earnings to shareholders increased 34% year-over-year to $229.6 million and its adjusted EPS of $1.63, surpassed analysts’ consensus estimates by 22.6%, providing reassurance to investors.
For the current fiscal year, ending in December, analysts expect Expeditors to report a 7.2% year-over-year growth in adjusted EPS to $5.37. The company’s earnings surprise history is mixed. It surpassed or matched analysts' bottom-line estimates in three of the past four quarters while missing on another occasion.
EXPD has a consensus “Moderate Sell” rating overall. Out of the 14 analysts covering the stock, eight recommend “Hold,” and six suggest a “Strong Sell” rating.
This configuration is bearish compared to three months ago when four analysts recommended a “Strong Sell” rating.
On Nov. 11, Morgan Stanley (MS) analyst Ravi Shanker maintained a “Sell” rating with a price target of $86.
While EXPD is trading above its mean price target of $116.77, the Street-high target of $131 suggests a premium of 10.1% to current price levels.
