UPS Lifts Full-Year Targets To $92.6 Billion In Revenue Even As Adjusted Earnings Per Share Slip
Third-quarter revenue rose 6.7% in every segment, but adjusted earnings per share fell to $1.69 from $1.74 a year earlier.
UPS raised its fourth-quarter and full-year 2026 guidance on Tuesday after third-quarter revenue rose 6.7% to $22.9 billion, with all three segments growing. Earnings per share still fell, with diluted earnings at $1.37 against $1.55 a year earlier.
Revenue up everywhere, earnings per share down
UPS, the package delivery and logistics company, said U.S. Domestic revenue rose 4.5%, helped by a 6.1% increase in revenue per piece. International rose 7.1%, driven by a 15.0% jump in revenue per piece. Supply Chain Solutions grew 18.2%, primarily on forwarding and logistics, including healthcare.
Adjusted earnings per share were $1.69 versus $1.74 a year earlier. Reported results carried a net charge of $279 million, or $0.32 per diluted share. That included a $182 million goodwill impairment in Supply Chain Solutions and after-tax transformation costs of $130 million, partly offset by a $33 million gain on MD-11 aircraft asset sales.
The year-earlier quarter included a $330 million pre-tax gain from a sale-leaseback in Supply Chain Solutions, worth $0.30 a share. Adjusted operating profit was $2.1 billion at a 9.0% margin.
The raised outlook
For the full year, UPS now expects revenue of about $92.6 billion, adjusted operating profit of about $8.75 billion and adjusted earnings per share of about $7.28. It lifted its adjusted free cash flow target to about $6.1 billion. For the fourth quarter it guided to revenue of about $25.7 billion and adjusted operating profit of about $3.3 billion.
CEO Carol Tomé said the company is entering the holiday shipping season "from a position of strength." Capital spending of about $3.0 billion, dividend payments of around $5.4 billion and $1.3 billion in pension contributions were confirmed.
Shrinking around Amazon, still restructuring
The company said planned volume reductions from its largest customer finished in the second quarter of 2026. Amazon and its affiliates made up about 10.6% of 2025 revenue. U.S. average daily volume was 15.621 million packages in the quarter, down from 16.150 million a year earlier.
Its Efficiency Reimagined overhaul is not expected to conclude until the fourth quarter of 2027. UPS said it achieved about $1.8 billion of program benefits in the first nine months and expects nearly $3 billion for the full year. Free cash flow for the first nine months was $4.22 billion, versus $2.74 billion a year earlier.
Tomé and CFO Brian Dykes discussed the results with analysts on a call at 8:30 a.m. ET Tuesday.
Sources
- 8-K Filing — UNITED PARCEL SERVICE INC (UPS) — SEC EDGAR
- Exhibit exhibit991-earningspressre.htm — UNITED PARCEL SERVICE INC 8-K exhibit — SEC EDGAR
- United Parcel Service (UPS) Charges More Per Package, but Is the Dividend Safe? — Yahoo Finance
