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In a rare move, UPS is suspending some operations at its Worldport hub at Louisville Muhammad Ali International Airport Thursday due to inclement weather.
UPS spokesman Jim Mayer said that for the company, “the only thing that comes before service is safety.”
“With significant ice accumulation expected at our main air hub in Louisville, we are suspending some operations on Thurs., Feb. 3,” he said. “Employees should check with their management teams about reporting to work.”
UPS stock jumped 15% by noon Tuesday after CEO Carol Tomé reported another quarter of results that investors saw as a validation of her “better, not bigger” strategy.
Tomé’s January call is arguably the most important of the year, as it includes performance during the holiday shipping season. The CEO’s first peak season in 2020 was an anomaly for pandemic-related reasons. So 2021 was her chance to prove the impact of her strategy, including only taking packages with sufficient profit margins and focusing the company’s many technology projects.
UPS CEO Carol Tome thinks the U.S. economy is on firm enough footing to withstand a few interest rate hikes this year from the Federal Reserve.
“The projected growth of GDP is still very high as we look at 2022, north of 4%. That is still pretty growthy in the history of the United States. Taking interest rate moves to put a cap on inflation rates that are facing the country seems like it’s a wise thing. It shouldn’t tip the growth rate negative,” Tome said in an exclusive interview with Yahoo Finance Live.
Tome knows a few things or two about Fed policy.
She led home improvement retailer Home Depot successfully through the Great Recession as CFO. Tome also was the chair of the board of the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta for several years.
UPS just completed a record year. The current one will be even better.
The delivery company earned $3.2 billion in the fourth quarter, excluding special items, up 36% from a year prior and topping the forecast of analysts surveyed by Refinitiv by about $500 million.
UPS and rivals FedEx and the US Postal Service have all experienced a surge in package volume since the start of the pandemic, as consumers accelerated the trend of buying more items online rather than traveling to stores.
The fourth-quarter results capped a year in which UPS’ annual earnings reached $10.7 billion, excluding special items, up nearly 50% from the strong results it reported in 2020. Revenue for the year reached $97.3 billion, up 13%.