:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc()/GettyImages-2230722680-35b4b04386494460b1fb6eaeed976899.jpg "Why UPS Stock is Among Top S&P 500 Gainers Today")
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Key Takeaways
- UPS reported quarterly results that topped Wall Street expectations on the top and bottom lines.
- The shipping giant’s cost-cutting measures—the company said it has cut nearly 50,000 jobs this year—helped boost profits.
United Parcel Service’s turnaround plan seems to be working.
UPS (UPS) shares were up 7% recently, trading at their highest levels in three months, after the shipping giant reported better-than-expected third-quarter results.
The Atlanta-based firm reported adjusted earnings of $1.74 per share on revenue that fell 3.7% year-over-year to $21.42 billion. Analysts surveyed by Visible Alpha had expected adjusted EPS of $1.31 and revenue to fall further to $20.89 billion.
Why This Matters to Investors
UPS handily topped Wall Street’s earnings expectations and outlined progress on its “Efficiency Reimagined” initiative—designed to streamline operations, reduce its workforce, and close underused facilities. UPS issued guidance for the fourth quarter after not doing so last quarter amid economic uncertainty, indicating executives now believe the company is on firmer footing.
“We launched our Efficiency Reimagined initiatives to undertake the end-to-end process redesign effort which will align our organizational processes to the network reconfiguration,” UPS said. “We have reduced our operational workforce by approximately 34,000 positions and closed daily operations at 93 leased and owned buildings during the first nine months of 2025 as a component of this initiative.” The company also said it has shed 14,000 white collar positions this year.
UPS’s moves are more aggressive than those outlined by the company in April, when it said it planned to cut roughly 20,000 employees from its operational workforce and close about 70 facilities this year. UPS said Tuesday that it has achieved cost savings so far this year of about $2.2 billion as a result of its initiatives, and expects to finish 2025 with savings of $3.5 billion compared with the year before.
UPS, which last quarter did not provide a revenue or profit forecast “given the current macro-economic uncertainty,” guided for $24 billion in fourth-quarter revenue, a tick above Visible Alpha consensus.
It reinstated its full-year outlook in September, expecting 4% to 6% revenue growth this fiscal year, and said it plans to spin off its freight business by June 2026.
Shares of UPS entered Tuesday down nearly 30% this year.
