UPS Q4 Earnings & Revenues Surpass Estimates, Down Year Over Year

United Parcel Service, Inc. (UPS) reported solid fourth-quarter 2025 results, wherein the company’s earnings and revenues surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate.

Quarterly earnings per share (excluding 28 cents from non-recurring items) of $2.38 beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $2.22 but declined 13.5% year over year. Revenues of $24.4 billion surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $24 billion but decreased 3.3% year over year.

Moreover, management provided upbeat full-year 2026 sales guidance, projecting revenues of approximately $89.7 billion, above the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $87.9 billion as well as the 2025 reported figure of $88.7 billion.

Other Aspects of Q4 Earnings Report

U.S. Domestic Package revenues of $16.8 billion decreased 3.2% year over year, owing to an expected decline in volume. Revenue per piece grew 8.3% year over year. Segmental operating profit (adjusted) fell 2.7% year over year to $1.71 billion. The adjusted operating margin for the segment was 10.2%.

Revenues in the International Package division totaled $5.05 billion, which increased 2.5% year over year, owing to a 7.1% increase in revenue per piece. Segmental operating profit (adjusted) totaled $908 million, down 14.5% year over year. The adjusted operating margin for the segment was 18%.
Supply Chain Solutions’ revenues of $2.67 billion decreased 12.7% year over year, owing to a decline in volume in the Mail Innovations business. Operating profit (on an adjusted basis) fell 2.8% year over year to $276 million. The adjusted operating margin for the segment was 10.3%.

The overall adjusted operating margin was 8.8%.

Remaining Aspects of UPS’ 2026 Outlook

Capital expenditures are estimated to be around $3 billion, with dividend payments expected to be around $5.4 billion (subject to board approval). The effective tax rate is expected to be around 23%.

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

Q4 Performances of Other Transportation Companies

Delta Air Lines DAL reported fourth-quarter 2025 earnings (excluding 31 cents from non-recurring items) of $1.55 per share, which beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $1.53. Earnings decreased 16.22% on a year-over-year basis due to high labor costs.

Revenues in the December-end quarter were $16 billion, beating the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $15.63 billion and increasing 2.9% on a year-over-year basis. Adjusted operating revenues (excluding third-party refinery sales) increased 1.2% year over year to $14.6 billion. Revenue growth was impacted by about 2 points due to the government shutdown, mainly in the domestic segment, consistent with the company's disclosure last month.

J.B. Hunt Transport Services, Inc. (JBHT) reported fourth-quarter 2025 earnings of $1.90 per share, which surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $1.81 and improved 24.2% year over year.

Total operating revenues of $3.09 billion lagged the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $3.12 billion and were down 1.6% year over year. JBHT’s fourth-quarter revenue performance was hurt by a 2% and 4% decline in revenue per load excluding fuel surcharge revenue in Intermodal (JBI) and Truckload (JBT), respectively, a 1% decrease in average trucks in Dedicated Contract Services (DCS), and a 7% and 2% decline in load volume in Integrated Capacity Solutions (ICS) and JBI, respectively. The decrease in revenue, excluding fuel surcharge revenue, was partially offset by a 15% increase in volume in JBT, a 1% uptick in productivity, excluding fuel surcharge revenue, in DCS, and an increase in revenue per load in ICS. Total operating revenue, excluding fuel surcharge revenue, decreased 2% year over year.

United Airlines Holdings, Inc. (UAL) reported solid fourth-quarter 2025 results wherein the company’s earnings and revenues beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate.

UAL's fourth-quarter 2025 adjusted earnings per share (excluding 9 cents from non-recurring items) of $3.10 surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $2.98 but declined 4.9% on a year-over-year basis. The reported figure lies within the guided range of $3.00-$3.50.

Operating revenues of $15.4 billion outpaced the Zacks Consensus Estimate marginally by 0.1% and increased 4.8% year over year. Passenger revenues (which accounted for 90.4% of the top line) increased 4.9% year over year to $13.9 billion. UAL flights transported 45,679 passengers in the fourth quarter, up 3% year over year.

Cargo revenues fell 6% year over year to $490 million. Revenues from other sources rose 9.1% year over year to $981 million.

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This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).

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