Acquisition, new planes a winning combo

Article Excerpt

FEDEX CORP. $173 (New York symbol FDX; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 283.8 million; Market cap: $49.1 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.1; Dividend yield: 0.6%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.fedex.com) delivers packages and documents in the U.S. and 220 other countries through a fleet of 650 planes and 108,000 trucks and other ground vehicles. The company recently agreed to buy TNT Express NV, a Netherlands-based courier that operates throughout Europe. FedEx’s main rival, United Parcel Service (UPS), tried to buy TNT in 2012, but antitrust regulators rejected the deal because it would have given UPS too much of Europe’s courier market. Combined, FedEx and TNT would have about 17% of this business, so regulators will likely approve this purchase. The company will pay $4.8 billion when it closes the deal, probably in early 2016. Meanwhile, FedEx earned $2.6 billion in its 2015 fiscal year, which ended May 31, 2015, up 17.4% from $2.2 billion in fiscal 2014. Per-share profits jumped…