XPO Reports Higher 2Q Revenue, Operating Income; Plans Another Stock Offering
XPO Logistics reported that revenue and operating income will be higher compared to a year ago, in a preview of the formal release of the company’s second-quarter results Aug. 2. Meanwhile, XPO also alerted the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission that it plans to issue 11 million new shares of stock, at $60.50 per share, at a date that it will specify later.
The Greenwich, Conn. company wrote the money from the stock offering will go to strategic acquisitions, paying down its $4.9 billion in debt and other general corporate purposes. Of the 11 million shares in the offering, 5 million will be sold directly by XPO to the underwriters — Morgan Stanley and an affiliate of J.P. Morgan Securities — at closing, and 6 million will be subject to the forward sale agreements, plus an option to purchase another 1.65 million shares.
“XPO has been vocal publicly in recent weeks about restarting its M&A process after taking 18-plus months to digest the Con-way transaction. With the stock up [about] 48% year-to-date, we believe the company could be looking to take advantage of this move to deliver in anticipation of future M&A later this year or in early 2018,” Citi Research analyst Christian Wetherbee wrote.
XPO Logistics, which ranks No. 1 on the Transport Topics Top 50 list of the largest logistics companies in North America and No. 3 on the list of largest for-hire carriers, also released estimates for the three-month period ending June 30.
The company predicts revenue will be between $3.76 billion and $3.77 billion compared with $3.68 million during the same period one year ago. The forecast for earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization is $368 million to $372 million. Operating income — after deducting expenses from the revenue — is expected to total between $183 million and $187 million.
The Bloomberg News consensus forecast of industry analysts before the announcement was $3.74 billion in revenue, $371 million in EBITDA and $191.7 million in operating income.
