Sandy Springs-based UPS has turned the corner after a year and a half of financial struggles, reporting improvements in quarterly profit and revenue for the third quarter.
“After a challenging 18-month period, our company returned to revenue and profit growth,” said UPS CEO Carol Tomé in a written statement.
The shipping giant’s struggles began last year when it lost business from customers worried about potential disruptions from a threatened Teamsters strike. UPS struggled to recover and regain business, even after striking a labor deal in July 2023. The company saw its revenue and profit decline.
The declines continued this year, exacerbated by economic uncertainty as customers increasingly chose budget shipping options.
UPS has been cutting costs by laying off employees, closing some of its buildings and reducing staffing by moving toward more automation in areas like the dispatch of drivers. In June, the company announced the sale of its Coyote Logistics freight brokerage unit for $1 billion.
For the third quarter, UPS had $22.2 billion of total revenue, up 5.6% from $21.1 billion a year ago.
Its net income was $1.5 billion, up 36.6% from $1.1 billion a year ago.
The results drove up UPS’ stock price in early morning trading.
The company still cut its revenue outlook for the full year, saying it now expects to bring in $91.1 billion in consolidated revenue for 2024, down from its most recent forecast of $93 billion for the year.
The new outlook would put this year roughly on par with last year’s revenue of $91 billion, which was down from 2022 revenue of $100.3 billion.
According to UPS, its updated target reflects the impact of the completed Coyote sale, its outlook for the fourth quarter and actual third quarter results.
The turnaround in the third quarter comes as UPS prepares for the busy peak holiday shipping season, the most important period of the year for the company. UPS is hiring more than 125,000 seasonal workers, including 6,500 in the Atlanta area. That’s up from the roughly 100,000 seasonal workers the company has hired each peak season in recent years.
“Peak season is nearly upon us, and we are ready to deliver another successful holiday season and continue the progress we demonstrated in the third quarter,” Tomé said.
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