Expeditors International of Washington Inc. EXPD reported Tuesday first-quarter profit that topped expectations but revenue that fell well short, as the logistics company’s business continued to be hurt by soft demand and “significantly” lower buy and sell rates. The stock was still inactive in premarket trading. Net income fell to $226.0 million, or $1.45 a share, from $346.1 million, or $2.05 a share, in the year-ago period. The FactSet consensus for earnings per share was $1.33. Revenue dropped 44.4% to $2.59 billion, below the FactSet consensus of $2.95 billion. Airfreight services revenue declined 43.4% to $904.9 million, Ocean freight and services revenue sank 64.7% to $697.3 million and customers brokerage revenue slipped 9.1% to $990.4 million. “Following the steep drop in volumes and rates in the fourth quarter, the economic challenges continued to impact all of our businesses during the first quarter,” said Chief Executive Officer Jeffrey Musser. “With supply chains largely normalized, average sell rates in air fell ahead of declining buy rates, and tonnage also declined.” The stock has rallied 12.1% year to date, while the Dow Jones Transportation Average DJT has gained 5.8% and the Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA has tacked on 2.7%.
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