UPS CEO Says Amazon's Shipping Push Has Had No 'Measurable Or Meaningful Impact' Yet
Carol Tomé called Amazon a customer, a supplier and a competitor, and said UPS's third-quarter revenue rose 6.7% to $22.9 billion.
UPS has seen no measurable or meaningful impact from Amazon's summer move into shipping, CEO Carol Tomé told analysts on the company's third-quarter earnings call Tuesday. UPS, the package delivery and logistics company, also raised its full-year outlook.
Customer, supplier, competitor
Asked by an analyst at Barclays about competition in premium verticals, Tomé described a relationship with Amazon in three parts: "they're a customer, they're a supplier, and they are a competitor." She said UPS has seen "any measurable or meaningful impact to our business since the announcement they made earlier in the summer," and suspected several reasons, starting with the two networks being different.
On rivals generally, Tomé said the pricing environment "seems very rational" among all competitors. CFO Brian Dykes called pricing constructive on the call and said UPS's general rate increase was consistent with prior years. He said UPS expects to keep earning 200 to 300 basis points (2 to 3 percentage points) of base-rate pricing and mix benefit, "no matter how fuel moves around."
Tomé said business-to-business volume fell year on year, but 60% of the decline was tied to Amazon. She said she was pleased with the underlying B2B performance.
A raised outlook
Third-quarter revenue was $22.9 billion, up 6.7% from a year earlier, with operating profit of $2.1 billion and diluted earnings per share of $1.69. U.S. domestic operating profit rose 14.3% to more than $1 billion, on a 7% operating margin.
UPS now expects full-year 2026 revenue of about $92.6 billion and operating profit of about $8.75 billion, which Dykes said implies earnings of about $7.28 per share. For the fourth quarter it expects revenue of about $25.7 billion and operating profit of about $3.3 billion.
U.S. average daily volume fell 3.3% in the quarter, which the company attributed to deliberate cuts in Amazon volume. Volume from small and mid-sized business and enterprise customers rose 1.8%.
Peak season and the Amazon drag
Tomé said average daily volume should rise about 25% from the third quarter to the fourth, in line with last year, but fourth-quarter U.S. volume is expected to be lower year over year. Dykes put the decline at 1.3%. Dykes said the Amazon comparison will weigh on total volume until the second half of next year.
UPS cut roughly half of its Amazon volume, which was 12% of 2024 revenue, as part of a network overhaul, ttnews reported. Amazon and its affiliates made up about 10.6% of 2025 revenue, according to the company's annual report.
Tomé told analysts the Teamsters contract expires on August 1, 2028, and said the 2023 negotiation left lessons that position UPS for that round.
Sources
- UPS (UPS) Q3 2026 earnings — CNBC
- UPS raises outlook in sign of strength for holiday season - TT — ttnews.com
- UPS beats Q3 expectations, raises full year guidance (UPS:NYSE) | Seeking Alpha — seekingalpha.com
- UPS Raises 2026 Outlook Amid Better-Than-Expected Q3 Report — Here’s What Investors Need To Know — Yahoo Finance
- UPS Expected to Post Higher 3Q Revenue, Though Fuel May Weigh on Profit -- Earnings Preview — MarketWatch
