FedEx's hidden debt

[feederdryver]

Everybody at my hub is talking how FedEx has all this hidden debt and their corporate office is manipulating Wall Street. I know UPS pays cash for everything and all Fred S keeps doing is borrowing and borrowing.....etc.
So why hasn't the media caught onto this yet. Is FedEx going to be the next Enron or what?
Why are we chasing their stock price?

I want answers damn it !!!! LOL !!

 

[tieguy]

I don't think we will see any excitement on the subject until Fedex announces earnings. Many investors will show a lot of patience with a company that has good growth even if they have a lot of debt. Some of the Nasdaq companies are classic examples.

 

[upsdawg]

Fed Ex definitely has a lot of growth---they are great at highliting the positive and not talking about the negative. They have taken away a lot of UPS ground volume which they always report on a positive note----but their premium services are flat. How long can they subsidize the other levels of service (sounds like USPS!)only time will tell.

I would love to see them dig themselves into a hole. They are looking to announce a major enhancement to their Commercial Ground service---Guaranteed by 3:00!!! This will be interesting and put UPS in a reactive situation......

 

[feederdryver]

Guaranteed by 3:00??
I wonder if this will be the breaking point for all those independent contractors driving for FedEx. How much will they get paid to get this done by 3 ?

 

[rushfan]

Guaranteed by 3? They will have to hire alot more drivers..In our city, they are delivering to business while I make pickups in the evening.

 

[brown_blood]

Feederdryver,
FedEx does not really have "hidden debt". They do have a substantial debt load, but it is in-step with their earnings, as well as with companies of similar size and market cap. You have to remember that UPS does not run like most of the top 100 companies. We are very adverse to any form of risk, whether it is taking on debt to fuel expansion or media spinning to raise the stock price. This is both our greatest strength, as well as our greatest weakness. Our stock will basically always remain flat, which is grand when the market as a whole is tanking, but will suck when the next roaring bull market is upon us.

 

[tieguy]

Brown I'm not convinced we will stay flat during a bull market. I know we did in 99 but we were still new to the game. Those who follow the stock market closely would probably agree that it actually turned and started climbing around October to decemeber of last year. We've seen a growth in our stock value from as low as 54 to 64 this year.

 

[afups]

Comparing this date to the same date previous years, here are the closing prices:

Year Close Shares traded
2000: 58.91 982,736
2001: 57.80 1,135,828
2002: 61.75 2,604,855
2003: 62.60 2,196,342

Share prices have been running sideways for a long time. One of these days, our investments in Asia and Logistics will pay off in a BIG way.

If the economy gets better and we stop having threats of new wars, our business will soar and so will the share values.

I am sure my children and their children will enjoy the results.

What is your guess as to what the closing price will be in mid June of 2004?

 

[brown_blood]

Just think back on the good old (READ: Pre-IPO) days of the stock... It was guaranteed to increase EVERY TIME the board met. We all know someone who has a few precious shares of the old Brown Stock that is now worth a fortune. My only real point is UPS really did a disservice to its existing stockholders (i.e. UPS employees) when it decided to go public. The only advantage is that now the stock is completely liquid, so MIP is as good as cash. Nevertheless, the company has not made the paradigm shifts necessary to benefit fully from being publicly traded. Of course, with Eskew at the helm maybe things will be different... if he stops seeking council from Kelly and Oz, that is

 

[dammor]

I do not understand why some on here have this fedex envy thing going on. At times I wonder if some of these posts are by fedex people. If that is not the case then the worried ones should perhaps make more of an effort to improve our customer base. We will do as well as we deserve to.