Expeditors International of Washington, Inc. (NYSE:EXPD) today announced first quarter 2024 financial results including the following comparisons to the same quarter of 2023:

• Diluted Net Earnings Attributable to Shareholders per share (EPS¹) decreased 19% to $1.17
• Net Earnings Attributable to Shareholders decreased 25% to $169 million
• Operating Income decreased 22% to $215 million
• Revenues decreased 15% to $2.2 billion
• Airfreight tonnage volume increased 4% and ocean container volume increased 2%

“Air tonnage and ocean volumes increased when compared to a sluggish first quarter a year ago and breaking from a general downward slide of more than a year,” said Jeffrey S. Musser, President and Chief Executive Officer. “Since late 2022, we have been adjusting operations to align with a broad marketplace reset. While we are no longer experiencing anything like the widespread supply chain chaos of the pandemic, our industry remains volatile due to global conflicts, stubborn inflation, fragile economies, and uncertain demand. At the same time and despite those conditions, both air and ocean carrier capacity continue to grow, further pressuring rates that have already come down significantly from their peaks. We have adapted to this current environment by keeping headcount and other costs in check, while continuing to drive efficiency back towards our historical expectations.

“The ocean market, in particular, remains muted and difficult to predict. Volumes increased year-over-year and sequentially and profit-per-container in the first quarter improved, compared to the fourth quarter 2023, due to increases in average buy and sell rates. Ocean capacity continues to grow, with an increase in the number of vessels coming on-line and out of sync with demand. The air market, too, continues to add capacity, as profit-minded carriers carefully grow capacity to meet strong passenger demand, particularly for international travel, which has negatively impacted air cargo rates and our profit-per-kilo. Nevertheless, air tonnage increased year-over-year from Q1’23 and profit-per-kilo increased sequentially, as buy rates fell faster than sell rates in certain markets. Our customs brokerage and other services business declined year-over-year, but improved sequentially from Q4’23, despite fewer shipments, reflecting the ongoing softness in many of the markets we serve.

“To be sure, our ability to see much beyond our day-to-day levels of activity remains very difficult. As capacity is growing and rates are falling, events such as the Red Sea circumvention, the Baltimore bridge collapse, and low water levels in the Panama Canal continue to make the global freight market highly unpredictable. If current conditions represent something like a new normal for our industry, then I would say we are adapting very well. I am grateful to our dedicated workforce for re-doubling its efforts during these recent periods of seesawing volumes and rates, as we all work diligently to adjust our cost structure lower. We remain highly attuned to whatever marketplace incidents occur and are dedicated to serving our customers at the highest level.”

Bradley S. Powell, Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, added, “We continue to adjust to an environment of soft rates and volatile demand. Salaries and related costs fell by 8%, primarily through decreased commissions and bonuses on lower revenues and operating income, again demonstrating how our variable compensation structure aligns with performance. We reduced headcount by 7%, largely through attrition, as we remain focused on aligning headcount with tonnage and volumes shipped. The only area of increased headcount during the quarter was in information systems, as we continue to enhance and bolster our network security. While managing overall headcount, we will continue to make important investments in people, processes and technology, as well as to invest in our strategic efforts to explore new areas for profitable growth.”

Mr. Powell reported that the Company generated $257 million in cash flow from operations in the first quarter of 2024 and returned $361 million to shareholders via repurchases of common stock.

Expeditors is a global logistics company headquartered in Seattle, Washington. The Company employs trained professionals in 176 district offices and numerous branch locations located on six continents linked into a seamless worldwide network through an integrated information management system. Services include the consolidation or forwarding of air and ocean freight, customs brokerage, vendor consolidation, cargo insurance, time-definite transportation, order management, warehousing and distribution and customized logistics solutions.

Disclaimer on Forward-Looking Statements:

Certain statements contained in this news release are “forward-looking statements,” based on management’s views with respect to future events and underlying assumptions that involve risks and uncertainties. These forward-looking statements include statements regarding inflation; fragile economies; continued growth in air and ocean carrier capacity and the impact on rates; unpredictability in the ocean and air markets, including uncertainty due to conflicts in the Middle East and Red Sea, the Baltimore bridge collapse, and low waters levels in the Panama canal; new capacity in the marketplace; cautious shipper demand and variable rate stability. Future financial performance could differ materially because of factors such as: our ability to keep headcount and other costs in check while continuing to drive efficiency back towards our historical expectations; the alignment of our variable compensation structure with performance; our ability to enhance and bolster our network security; that management is able to grow the business and explore new areas for profitable growth; our ability to leverage the strength of our carrier relationships; the strength of our non-asset-based operating model; and our ability to remain a strong, healthy, unified and resilient organization. The normalizing of the supply chain at the end of the pandemic, along with the current uncertainty in the global economy, could have the effect of heightening many of the other risks described in Item 1A of our Annual Report on Form 10-K, including, without limitation, those related to the success of our strategy and desire to maintain historical unitary profitability, our ability to attract and retain customers, our ability to manage costs, interruptions to our information technology systems, the ability of third-party providers to perform and potential litigation and contingencies, including risks associated with tax audits, as updated by our reports on Form 10-Q, filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. These and other factors are discussed in the Company’s regulatory filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including those in “Item 1A. Risk Factors” of the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2023, and the Company’s most recent Form 10-Q. The forward-looking statements contained in this news release speak only as of this date and the Company does not assume any obligation to update them except as required by law.

During the three months ended March 31, 2024, we repurchased 3.0 million shares of common stock at an average price of $120.17 per share compared to the three months ended March 31, 2023, where we repurchased 2.0 million shares of common stock at an average price of $108.98 per share.

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Investors may submit written questions via e-mail to: investor@expeditors.com. Questions received by the end of business on May 10, 2024 will be considered in management's 8-K “Responses to Selected Questions.”

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