UPS leaves full-year outlook intact even as quarterly earnings top target, and stock falls

By Tomi Kilgore

Revenue declines from a year ago but beats Wall Street projections - both for a fifth straight quarter

UPS's stock is in decline early Tuesday after quarterly revenue topped Wall Street expectations, but the full-year outlook was kept unchanged.

Shares of United Parcel Service slumped in early Tuesday trading after the package-delivery giant beat first-quarter earnings expectations but left its full-year guidance unchanged.

While revenue fell from a year earlier for a fifth straight quarter, amid continued weakness in U.S. business, CEO Carol Tomé said the results marked a "critical transition point" for the company (UPS), with revenue and profit growth expected to resume in the current quarter.

Revenue was down 1.6% to $21.2 billion, but that was above the average analyst estimate compiled by FactSet of $20.98 billion. That marked the fifth straight top-line beat.

Average daily package volume was down 7.7% to 19.18 million, while revenue per piece increased 7.7% to $15.32.

For the second quarter, the FactSet consensus calls for revenue growth of 1.6% to $21.55 billion.

Domestic package revenue fell 2.3% to $14.13 billion - a fourth straight decline - but was above the FactSet consensus of $13.91 billion, while the international metric showed 3.8% growth to $4.54 billion, which topped the $4.37 billion expected by analysts. Supply-chain revenue was a disappointment as it fell 6.5% to $2.54 billion from $2.71 billion; analysts had modeled a flat performance.

The stock dropped 2.6% in premarket trading, putting it on track to see a four-week winning streak end. The weakness weighed slightly on the shares of rival FedEx (FDX), which slipped 0.5% in premarket trading.

Net income at UPS declined 27.2% to $864 million, while adjusted earnings per share fell to $1.07 from $1.49 but still beat the FactSet consensus of $1.01.

Despite the earnings beats, UPS said it was keeping its full-year revenue guidance at approximately $89.7 billion, which implies 1.1% growth from 2025.

UPS's stock has rallied 9.1% in 2026, while FedEx shares have soared 34.3% and the S&P 500 index SPX has risen 4.8%.

-Tomi Kilgore

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04-28-26 0712ET