Internet sales boost FedEx’s earnings

Article Excerpt

FEDEX CORP. $159 (New York symbol FDX; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 283.2 million; Market cap: $45.0 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.0; Dividend yield: 0.5%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.fedex.com) continues to benefit from a recent cost-control plan and the rise of online shopping, which has boosted demand for its package-delivery services. In the first quarter of its 2015 fiscal year, which ended August 31, 2014, FedEx’s revenue rose 6.0%, to $11.7 billion from $11.0 billion a year earlier. Earnings gained 23.9%, to $606 million from $489 million. FedEx is an aggressive buyer of its own stock. As a result, its earnings per share jumped 37.3%, to $2.10 from $1.53. The company expects to earn $8.50 to $9.00 a share for all of fiscal 2015, and the stock trades at 18.2 times the midpoint of that range. That’s an attractive multiple, particularly as FedEx is raising its shipping rates in January 2015. FedEx is a buy. buy…