FedEx surprised to the upside on its fourth quarter earnings report, its laser focus on and investment in ecommerce capabilities in recent years paying off in terms of responsiveness to massive online buying, even as service stumbles were reported in a couple states.The major carrier also seemed none the worse for having parted ways with Amazon in 2019 to focus on more profitable relationships with other retail and ecommerce customers.FedEx reported $17.4 billion in revenue in Q4, down from $17.8 billion in 2019, while net income was an adjusted $663 million or $2.53 per share, less than half of 2019’s $1.32 billion. But analysts had been calling for earnings of $1.58 per share on revenue of $16.4 billion.“Surging ecommerce sales from our large customers drove significant FedEx volume in Q4 and a sizable mix shift from commercial B2B to home delivery/B2C volume,” said Brie Carere, EVP and chief marketing and communications officer for FedEx on a call with analysts. “In Q4, FedEx total U.S. domestic residential volume was 72% vs. 56% a year ago. Since the end of April, however, we have seen week-over-week growth in our business-to-business segment.”Carere said the temporary peak residential surcharges that FedEx initiated in June, about two weeks after UPS, affected “a small number of our largest customers” with surging volume.

Source: FedEx Beats Q4 Expectations, Driven by Massive Surge in Ecommerce