UPS delivers lower Q3 earnings


Speedy delivery service United Parcel Service (NYSE: UPS) delivered a mixed bag of third-quarter results on Thursday.

The company reported earnings of 55 cents per share, topping the consensus estimate by two cents per share. While these results were better than the consensus estimate, they are a far cry from the 96 cents per share earned in the same quarter a year ago.

Quarterly sales came in at $11.15 billion, short of the consensus estimate of $11.17 billion and last year's $13.1 billion.

Looking ahead, UPS expects fourth-quarter earnings to come in between 58 cents and 65 cents per share. The current Wall Street estimate calls for earnings of 64 cents per share.

In pre-open trade, UPS was roughly 1% lower, as it seems investors are focusing on the negative aspects of the company's earnings announcement. If this pre-market trading action carries on into the regular trading session, UPS may need to rely on the potential support held in its 10-week moving average. This trendline is currently positioned in the upper reaches of the $55 region. If the stock falls below this trendline, UPS's 20- and 50-week moving averages are both positioned in the $54 region. Further below these two trendlines is UPS's 10-month moving average. This trendline is the last bastion of potential long-term support and a breach of this trendline could signal a pronounced downtrend.

As for potential resistance, UPS's 20-month moving average lurks overhead. The last time UPS finished a month atop this trendline was early 2008. If this trendline continues acting as resistance, UPS could be in for a tough road.

Symbol Lookup
IndexesChangePrice
DJIA-89.2312,801.23
NASDAQ-23.352,903.88
S&P 500-9.311,342.64

Last updated: February 12, 2012: 04:20 PM

Hot Stocks

General Electric

18.875-0.255(-1.33)

Alcoa

10.29-0.35(-3.29)

Apple Inc

493.42+0.25(+0.05)

Google Inc 'A'

605.91-5.55(-0.91)

Bank of America

8.07-0.11(-1.34)

Wal-Mart Stores

61.90-0.06(-0.10)

Exxon Mobil Corp

83.80-1.08(-1.27)

Ford

12.44-0.25(-1.97)

Citigroup

32.925-0.735(-2.18)

IBM

192.42-0.71(-0.37)

Yahoo

16.14+0.14(+0.88)

Starbucks

48.82-0.38(-0.77)

Microsoft

30.495-0.275(-0.89)

Home Depot

45.33+0.06(+0.13)

DailyFinance Headlines

Benzinga Headlines

TheFlyOnTheWall.com Headlines

BioHealth Investor Headlines

WalletPop Headlines

DailyFinance BlackBerry App

My Portfolios

Track your stocks here!

Find out why more people track their portfolios on AOL Money & Finance then anywhere else.

BloggingStocks Partners

More from AOL Money & Finance

BioHealth Investor Headlines

Page Loaded in 1329081613357 ms.