XPO Logistics reports quarterly earnings and revenue that beat expectations, raises guidance

XPO Logistics on Monday afternoon announced better than expected quarterly earnings and revenue on the strength of its trucking and logistics business.

Shares of XPO hit all-time intraday high ahead of its first-quarter earnings report, which was released after the closing bell on Wall Street. The stock was slightly lower in after-hours trading.

The company reported adjusted quarterly profit of $1.46 per share, more than double the year-ago period, on total revenue growth of more than 23% to $4.77 billion.

Here’s how XPO Logistics fared, compared to analyst estimates compiled by Refinitiv:

• Earnings: $1.46 adjusted vs. $0.97 expected
• Revenue: $4.77 billion vs. $4.33 billion expected

Adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, referred to as EBITDA, rose 33% in the first quarter to $443 million.

XPO raised full year adjusted EBITDA guidance to a range of $1.825 billion to $1.875 billion from the prior guidance of between $1.725 billion to $1.8 billion.

The company’s Q1 North American truck brokerage revenue increased 83% over-year-over to $589 million.

“In logistics, our record first quarter revenue of $1.82 billion was propelled by the ‘big three’ logistics tailwinds: e-commerce, outsourcing and warehouse automation,” CEO Brad Jacobs said in a press release that announced the results.

XPO shares have doubled over the past year as the pandemic has lead to a boom in e-commerce and demand for warehousing, logistics and reverse logistics. The stock is up about 19% year to date.

“We’ve won a tremendous amount of logistics business in the first four months of this year, including a $1.8 billion contract with a longstanding customer that extends and expands our relationship through 2032. This is the largest contract in our company’s history,” Jacobs said.

XPO will spinoff its highly profitable logistics segment into a new company called GXO Logistics in a deal expected to close in the second half of 2021. Current logistics customers Nike, Coca-Cola, Intel and others are expected to remain with the spinoff firm. Malcolm Wilson, XPO’s current European CEO, will take the helm at GXO.

Apple also announced last week it will hire XPO to run a new $100 million logistics facility in Indiana.

— Programing note: Wilson will be interview by CNBC’s Jim Cramer later Monday on “Mad Money.”