Category: UPS News

Investors are always looking for stocks that are poised to beat at earnings season and United Parcel Service, Inc. may be one such company. The firm has earnings coming up pretty soon, and events are shaping up quite nicely for their report.

That is because United Parcel Service is seeing favorable earnings estimate revision activity as of late, which is generally a precursor to an earnings beat. After all, analysts raising estimates right before earnings-with the most up-to-date information possible-is a pretty good indicator of some favorable trends underneath the surface for UPS in this report.

A Southern California driver for United Parcel Service was arrested Friday, accused of stealing dozens of guns bound for a Turner’s Outdoorsman store in Rancho Cucamonga.

Curtis Hays, 36, allegedly funneled 72 weapons, including 12-gauge shotguns and .45-caliber pistols, to an associate for sale on the region’s bustling black market for illegal firearms.

“This is an unusual case,” said Carlo A. DiCesare, a special assistant U.S. Attorney in Riverside who is prosecuting the case. “It was a large number of firearms that were stolen, and they were stolen from a reputable shipping company.”

United Parcel Service’s CFO Kurt Koehn made a big strategic announcement this month — he told German daily newspaper Sueddeutsche Zeitung that the company will invest $1 billion in Europe over the next three to five years. Though the full details won’t be revealed until November, Koehn provided some interesting snippets. Investments will be mostly in Germany, with emphasis on developing more logistics hubs. In terms of sector specialization, health care will be the focal point.

If we look at Germany’s growth prospects and UPS’ course of action in recent times, the announcement does not surprise; here’s why.

Germany is the eurozone’s biggest economy and growth driver. With fresh investments in the region, UPS can position itself better in comparison to rivals that are equally intent on milking the German recovery. Increased focus on health care could help derive big gains. The stage is set for UPS to up the ante in Europe.

In the past month, United Parcel Service executives have made it clear the company supports the passage of trade agreements currently being discussed between the U.S. and foreign economies.

UPS execs may have started talking more about the agreements now, due to a combination of mounting frustration with political gridlock and a strategic appeal to the public. TTIP has only formally been on the table since early 2013, but TPP has been under discussion for five years. Or, perhaps the company is looking for a volume boost now that its European hub has increased capacity.

Whatever the reason, the agreements carry growth potential for the company and interested investors should continue to monitor their development.

Global trade is becoming more essential to the economic viability to the United States and its companies, which is why UPS is strongly supporting two pending free trade agreements, the incoming CEO of United Parcel Service Inc. Dave Abney said Monday.

“One of our growing concerns is the protectionism that is surfacing throughout the world,” Abney said. “More and more of the economic activity is going to be occurring somewhere else (outside the United States). We should really be spreading that message. We understand that trade is a vital economic engine.”