Delivery firm UPS (UPS) has announced third-quarter earnings and upped its full-year 2010 earnings. For the quarter, the dean of delivery earned 93 cents per share on an adjusted basis, topping the consensus estimate by a nickel. These results also easily trumped last year's third-quarter earnings of 55 cents per share. Quarterly revenue increased 9% to $12.19 billion.

UPS's earnings received a boost from higher prices, but also benefited by a 3.6% rise in the average number of packages shipped per day. The main benefit of this increase stemmed from an increase of 4% in revenue per package. International average daily shipping volume increased 13%, led by Asia, which saw an increase of 30% in volume. A majority of this international increase came from shipments of electronics from Asia.

This morning, JPMorgan Chase upgraded FedEx (NYSE: FDX) to "overweight" from "neutral," citing the company's "strong operating leverage" that "should drive performance for the stock when there is improvement in the economy." The brokerage also stated that bad news is already reflected in FDX's stock price. They also upped the dean of delivery's price target to $66 per share from $60 per share.

Is this upgrade a smart move or wishful thinking? I have reservations on a couple of levels, so let's address those, shall we? My first reservation is on a fundamental level. The per-barrel price of oil is rising and could continue to rise, leading to higher gas prices. If this situation occurs, we could see FedEx punished a bit, mainly because of the company's reliance on gasoline. Yes, there is a possibility that FedEx could break its reliance on black gold, but it would take a fleet of hybrid or electric vehicles for this to happen -- and that costs a lot of money.