Recently, FedEx Corporation (NYSE:FDX) lost nearly 7% of its market value in one day, from $106.46 per share to only $99.13 per share. The drop was due to a profit decline in the third quarter. Since the beginning of the year, FedEx has gained nearly 5.2%. Is the recent drop in its stock price an investment opportunity? Let’s find out.
Business snapshot
FedEx, incorporated in 1997, is a leading provider of transportation, e-commerce, and business services through different companies that operate under the FedEx brand. It has four main operating business segments: FedEx Express, FedEx Ground, FedEx Freight, and FedEx Services. The majority of its revenue, $26.5 billion, or 62% of total 2012 revenue, was generated from the FedEx Express segment.
The FedEx Ground segment ranked second, with nearly $9.57 billion in revenue in 2012, while the FedEx Freight segment and the FedEx Corporation (NYSE:FDX) Services segment contributed $5.28 billion and $1.67 billion in revenue, respectively. In the FedEx Express segment, package revenue of $20.86 billion accounted for 78.7% of the segment revenue, while freight revenue was only $4.63 billion.
Growing performance on conservative capital structure
In the past ten years, FedEx has experienced a rising trend in both its top and bottom lines. Its revenue has increased from $22.5 billion in 2003 to $42.68 billion in 2012, while net income has grown from $830 million to more than $2 billion in the same period. FedEx also generated consistent positive operating cash flow in the past ten years, from $1.87 billion to more than $4.83 billion.
However, its free cash flow has fluctuated widely. Free cash flow has been positive since 2008 and was $828 million in 2012. What interests me is FedEx Corporation (NYSE:FDX)’s conservative capital structure. As of November 2012, it had $15.54 billion in total stockholders’ equity, $2.5 billion in cash and only $2.24 billion in long-term debt. The goodwill amount was only around $2.8 billion. Thus, FedEx’s tangible book value was $12.74 billion.
A disappointing quarter
In the third quarter of 2013, FedEx’s revenue increased 4% to $11 billion, but the net income came in at only $361 million, or $1.13 EPS (including this year’s realignment costs), 31% lower than the third quarter in 2012 at $521 million, or $1.55 EPS.
Frederick Smith, FedEx’s chairman and CEO said: “The third quarter was very challenging due to continued weakness in international air freight markets, pressure on yields due to industry overcapacity and customers selecting less expensive and slower-transit services. In response, beginning April 1, FedEx Express will decrease capacity to and from Asia and will aggressively manage traffic flows to place low yielding traffic in lower-cost networks.”
The most profitable but cheaply valued
At around $98 per share, FedEx Corporation (NYSE:FDX) is worth nearly $31 billion on the market. The market values FedEx at 6.24 times EV/EBITDA. Compared to its peers, including United Parcel Service, Inc. (NYSE:UPS) and Deutsche Post AG (FRA:DPW), FedEx has the lowest valuation.
UPS is trading at nearly $85 per share, with a total market cap of nearly $81 billion. It is the most expensively valued at 26.75 times EV/EBITDA. Deutsche Post, at around $24 per share, has a total market cap of nearly $29 billion. Deutsche Post is valued at nearly 8.7 times EV/EBITDA.
Interestingly, FedEx Corporation (NYSE:FDX) is the most profitable company with the highest operating margin at 7.35%, while Deutsche Post has around 3% operating margin. United Parcel Service, Inc. (NYSE:UPS) has the lowest operating margin at 2.45%. Among the three, Deutsche Post has the highest trailing annual dividend yield at 3.9%. UPS ranks second with a 2.8% dividend yield, while FedEx pays investors the lowest dividend yielding only 0.6%.
Foolish bottom line
I personally think that FedEx has a wide moat with its international shipping network. DHL Express (USA), Inc., one of its privately-held peers, had to exit the domestic U.S. parcel delivery market several years ago. With a low valuation, high operating margin, and a market leading position, FedEx Corporation (NYSE:FDX) could fit well in the long-term portfolio of patient investors.
The article This Express Delivery Stock Is a Long-Term Buy originally appeared on Fool.com and is written by Anh HOANG.
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