Expeditors International of Washington Inc. EXPD reported mixed results in the first quarter of 2017. This transportation company posted earnings (on an adjusted basis) of 52 cents per share, which fell short of the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 4 cents.

Moreover, earnings declined 1.89% on a year-over-year basis due to higher costs. The lackluster bottom-line performance disappointed investors. Consequently, the stock lost value in early trading.

Revenues of $1,545.1 million beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $1,524.7 million. The top line also improved 8.93% from the year-ago figure. In fact, revenues increased at all three primary divisions of the company. Volumes with respect to airfreight tonnage and ocean container increased 16% and 7% respectively in the reported quarter.

Gross profit (net revenue) increased 2% year over year in the first quarter to $528 million. Gross margin (yield) declined to 34.2% in the reported quarter. Expeditors, based in Seattle, WA,exited the quarter with cash and cash equivalents of $1.16 billion compared with $974.4 million at the end of 2016. During the quarter, the company repurchased 1 million shares at an average price of $56.49 per share.

Segmental Revenues

Airfreight Services revenues improved 9.7% year over year to $615.5 million in the first quarter. Ocean Freight and Ocean Services revenues increased 8.7% year over year to $493.8 million. Customs Brokerage and Other Services revenues increased 8 % year over year to approximately $435.8 million.

Expeditors International of Washington, Inc. Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise

Expeditors International of Washington, Inc. Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise | Expeditors International of Washington, Inc. Quote

Other Key Releases Coming Up

Investors interested in the broader transportation space keenly await the first-quarter earnings reports of Matson, Inc. MATX, Copa Holdings CPA and Air Lease Corp. AL that are slated to be released on May 3, May 10 and May 4, respectively.

Zacks Rank

Currently, Expeditors has a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.  

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