ZTO Express (ZTO) Shares Up 6.1% Since Q2 Earnings Release
ZTO Express’ (ZTO) shares gained 6.1% since its second-quarter 2024 earnings release on Aug 20. Quarterly earnings of 47 cents per share improved year over year. Total revenues of $1.47 billion improved year over year.
Detailed Operational Statistics
Revenues from the core express delivery business improved 10.4% year over year, owing to 10.1% growth of parcel volume and stable parcel unit price. KA revenues, including delivery fees from direct sales organizations established to serve core express KA customers, increased 73.9% as the proportion of higher-value customers continued to increase.
Revenues from freight forwarding services fell 2.4% year over year.
Revenues from sales of accessories, largely consisting of sales of thermal paper used for digital waybills' printing, rose 24.1% year over year. Other revenues were mainly derived from financing services.
ZTO Express (Cayman) Inc. Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise
ZTO Express (Cayman) Inc. price-consensus-eps-surprise-chart | ZTO Express (Cayman) Inc. Quote
Gross profit improved 9.6% from the year-ago reported quarter on the back of revenue growth and cost productivity gain. Gross margin rate fell to 33.8% from 33.9% in the year-ago period.
Total operating expenses came in at RMB 405.3 million ($55.8 million) compared with RMB 425.7 million in the year-ago period.
ZTO Express exited the second quarter of 2024 with cash and cash equivalents of RMB 10.54 billion compared with RMB 12.58 billion at the first-quarter end.
2024 Guidance
ZTO Express continues to expect parcel volumes for 2024 in the range of 34.73-35.64 billion. The guidance represents an increase of 15-18% year over year.
Zacks Rank and Price Performance
Currently, ZTO Express carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
Over the past six months, shares of ZTO have gained 8.2%, outperforming the industry’s rise of 1%.
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Performances of Other Transportation Companies
Delta Air Lines DAL reported second-quarter 2024 earnings (excluding 35 cents from non-recurring items) of $2.36 per share, which marginally missed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $2.37. Earnings decreased 11.9% on a year-over-year basis. Apart from high costs, the carrier blamed the discounting pressure at the low end of the market, which hurt its pricing power, for the disappointing performance.
Revenues of $16.65 billion surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $16.25 billion and increased 6.9% year over year, driven by upbeat air travel demand. Adjusted operating revenues (excluding third-party refinery sales) came in at $15.41 billion, up 5.4% year over year.
J.B. Hunt Transport Services, Inc. (JBHT)reported disappointing second-quarter 2024 results wherein both earnings and revenues lagged the Zacks Consensus Estimate.
JBHT’s earnings of $1.32 per share missed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $1.51 and declined 27% year over year.
JBHT’s total operating revenues of $2.93 billion missed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $3.03 billion and fell 7% year over year. Total operating revenues, excluding fuel surcharge revenue, fell 6% year over year. The downfall was owing to a 5% decrease in gross revenue per load in Intermodal (JBI) and a decline in load volume of 25% in Integrated Capacity Solutions (ICS), 9% in Truckload (JBT), and 9% in Dedicated Contract Services (DCS). These were partially offset by the 5% revenue growth of Final Mile Services (FMS), primarily driven by new contracts implemented over the past year, and a 5% increase in revenue per load in ICS.
United Airlines Holdings, Inc. (UAL)reported second-quarter 2024 earnings per share (excluding 18 cents from non-recurring items) of $4.14, which surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $3.97. Earnings decreased 17.7% on a year-over-year basis.
Operating revenues of $14.98 billion missed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $15.13 billion. The top line increased 5.7% year over year due to upbeat air-travel demand. This was driven by a 5.2% rise in passenger revenues (which accounted for 91.2% of the top line) to $13.680 billion. Almost 44,375 passengers traveled on UAL flights in the second quarter, up 5.8% year over year.
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