FedEx Drives Out Labor Shortage

Today is Friday, December 17, 2021.

FedEx Drives Out Labor Shortage With Strong Earnings

Shares of FedEx (NYSE: FDX) jumped 4.94% in after-hours trading after the transportation company posted positive earnings.

Financials: FedEx reported earnings per share of $4.83 and revenue of $23.5 billion in the quarter; both were better than expected.

Bigger Picture: Labor shortages, higher transportation costs, and higher wages hammered FedEx, which resulted in $470 million in costs. But the company was able to grow its operating income thanks to strong demand and by managing the labor situation.

Quote: “Strategic investments that we have made to our networks and systems have enabled us to provide critical delivery capacity and supply chain expertise to support the needs of our customers, while also making it possible for us to capitalize on the growing e-commerce parcel market.” - Raj Subramaniam, FedEx Corp. president and chief operating officer.

Final Thoughts: It was a great quarter for FedEx, which was able to hold back the labor shortage and supply chain challenges. But, is the worst of the labor shortage over? It’s hard to tell at this point.

Notables

Notable Earnings Today: Darden Restaurants (NYSE: DRI), Winnebago (NYSE: WGO).

Notable IPOs Today: TKB Critical Technologies 1 Class A Ordinary Shares (Nasdaq: USCT), LAVA Medtech Acquisition Corp. Class A Common Stock (Nasdaq: LVAC), Global Technology Acquisition Corp. I Class A Ordinary Shares (Nasdaq: GTAC), Revelstone Capital Acquisition Corp. Unit (Nasdaq: RCACU).

Notable Equity Crowdfunding Campaigns Ending Today: Krazie Wings and Sauces (MainVest), Envel (StartEngine), XENiA (MainVest), Huddle (Republic), Rancho Relaxo (MainVest), Peach City Brewing Company (MainVest), Orion Haus (Wefunder), Greenbox Robotics (NetCapital), American Vanity (TruCrowd).

Notable Economic Events Today: N/A.

IMF Chief Economist Weighs in on Crypto

Photo by Executium / Unsplash

The chief economist of the International Monetary Fund spoke out against banning cryptocurrencies at an event from the National Council of Applied Economic Research on Wednesday.

Details: The economist, Gita Gopinath, said that there should be policy and regulations for cryptos. However, Gopinath also said that banning them would be challenging because they are decentralized.

Quote: “There are challenges to banning it whether you can end up with truly banning crypto because many exchanges are offshore and they are not subject to regulations of a particular country.” - Gita Gopinath, IMF Chief Economist.

Background: Across the world, countries have been debating how to handle crypto. Some are trying to ban them, which is not easy.

Final Thoughts: The comments from the chief economist were a step in the right direction for legitimizing crypto.

CSX Stock Hopes to Be Supply Chain Winner

James Foote, the CEO of railroad company CSX Corporation (Nasdaq: CSX), said in October that the company is committed to helping customers overcome supply chain constraints - a statement which has investors interested.

Numbers: Shares of CSX are up about 21% this year, which is part of a larger trend of railroad stocks performing well this year.

The Good: CSX has a strong operating margin of nearly 40% in the past year. It also has a good price-to-earnings ratio.

The Bad: The dividend yield from CSX is a bit lower than the rest of the industry. And the stock has been a bit inconsistent over the past few weeks.

Final Thoughts: As freight rates rise, interest in CSX will pick up.

Trends to Watch

Happy Holidays: Robinhood Adds Crypto Gifting Feature (CoinDesk)

Stock Watch: Oracle in Talks to Buy Cerner (The Wall Street Journal)

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