United Parcel Service, Inc. UPS reached a tentative agreement with the Independent Pilot’s Association (IPA), representing its 2,959 flight crew members, for a two-year contract extension. The tentative deal approved by the five-pilot IPA Executive Board includes retirement enhancements and yearly pay hikes.

The contract will be reviewed by UPS pilots through Mar 10, following which the ratification process will begin. The three-week ratification vote will end on Mar 31.

UPS’ current contract with the IPA will become amenable on Sep 1, 2021. In the event of ratification of the tentative deal, the new contract will be amenable on Sep 1, 2023.

Price Performance

Sluggish air freight market due to lackluster demand from China as a result of the Sino-U.S. trade tensions, weighed significantly on UPS’ performance. With rapid growth in e-commerce, the company is spending heavily on capital investments to meet the surge in demand. For instance, it made capital investments of $6.5 billion in 2019. The amount is expected to further escalate to $6.7 billion in 2020 as UPS intends to invest in additional automated sorting hubs for expanding its retail client base. The higher capital expenses are anticipated to dent current-year earnings per share by roughly 33 cents. Due to these headwinds, shares of UPS have declined 6.8% in a year’s time.

Zacks Rank & Key Picks

UPS carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). Some better-ranked stocks in the broader Transportation sector are GATX Corporation GATX, Azul S.A. AZUL and Controladora Vuela Compania de Aviacion, S.A.B. de C.V. VLRS, each sporting a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

GATX flaunts an impressive earnings history, having outperformed the Zacks Consensus Estimate in each of the preceding four quarters, the average being 21%. Meanwhile, shares of Azul and Controladora Vuela have rallied more than 27% and 73%, respectively, in a year’s time.

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United Parcel Service, Inc. (UPS) : Free Stock Analysis Report
 
Controladora Vuela Compania de Aviacion, S.A.B. de C.V. (VLRS) : Free Stock Analysis Report
 
GATX Corporation (GATX) : Free Stock Analysis Report
 
AZUL SA (AZUL) : Free Stock Analysis Report
 
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