Company Announcements

BELLEVUE, Wash.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 18, 2025-- Expeditors International of Washington, Inc. (NYSE:EXPD) today announced fourth quarter 2024 financial results including the following comparisons to the same quarter of 2023:

• Diluted Net Earnings Attributable to Shareholders per share (EPS¹) increased 54% to $1.68
• Net Earnings Attributable to Shareholders increased 49% to $236 million
• Operating Income increased 51% to $301 million
• Revenues increased 30% to $3.0 billion
• Airfreight tonnage increased 11% and ocean container volume increased 14%

“As in Q3 2024, our fourth quarter results demonstrate our ability to adapt to highly volatile conditions and win new business,” said Jeffrey S. Musser, President and Chief Executive Officer. “Strong demand from Asia, along with heavy de minimis-driven e-commerce business and increased demand for technology products, limited access to air capacity. At the same time, we believe ocean capacity was partially hampered by front-loading, as shippers scrambled to limit disruptions from potential port labor actions, and by longer transits as carriers continued to avoid the Red Sea. Turbulent conditions such as these are when Expeditors tends to perform at its best, as we double-down to find solutions for our customers to avoid the worst of the chaos and keep their freight moving.

“All of our primary businesses performed very well again in the fourth quarter and we moved more air tonnage than we have since Q4 2021. Strong demand out of Asia drove rate increases and segment growth in both the quarter and during the second half of 2024. Disruption-driven ocean demand led to significantly increased rates and strained capacity, leading to increased year-over-year growth. Strong demand generally for ocean transportation combined with longer transit times and capacity issues caused by the disruptions in the Red Sea resulted in significant increases in overall average buy and sell rates and growth in volumes. Growth in air and ocean shipments helped drive an increase in fees for customs declarations and services. We also grew our road freight and warehousing and distribution businesses during the quarter.

“We continue to have limited visibility going forward. It is extremely difficult to predict the impact to global air supply and demand that may result from actions such as the anticipated U.S. elimination of certain de minimis exemptions. So, too, whether recessed Red Sea hostilities will lead to resumed ocean transit via that route remains to be seen. Geopolitical words and action are driving disruption at a faster pace than we can ever recall, and national policies regarding tariffs and other similar measures are highly unclear in many countries around the globe. However, whether accessing scarce capacity or navigating increasingly complex customs requirements, we believe we are at our finest during chaotic times like these. We remain flexible and steadfastly focused on serving our customers to keep their freight moving across borders during such unpredictable times.”

Bradley S. Powell, Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, added, “Given the growth in air and ocean shipments, increased customs declarations and other business activity, we carefully added headcount in certain important areas during the quarter, while continuing to increase profitability, growing operating income by 51% from a year ago. Our measure of operating efficiency (operating income as a percentage of revenue less directly related cost of transportation and other expenses) was above our 30% target again for the quarter and for the year. We continue to make significant investments in cybersecurity and other technology to maintain, protect, and upgrade current systems, while also investing to deploy new and enhanced solutions.”

Mr. Powell noted that the Company returned $1.1 billion to shareholders through stock repurchases and dividends in 2024, the third consecutive year that the Company has returned more than $1 billion of capital to shareholders.

Expeditors is a global logistics company headquartered in Bellevue, Washington. The Company employs trained professionals in 172 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.

¹Diluted earnings attributable to shareholders per share.
NOTE: See Disclaimer on Forward-Looking Statements in this release.

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; 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; national policy changes on tariffs and other similar measures; port actions and other labor disruptions; new capacity in the marketplace; longer ocean transit times; strong e-commerce demand in the air market; changing de minimis laws; and volatile rates. Future financial performance could differ materially because of factors such as: our ability to secure higher air tonnage and ocean volumes; our ability to carefully add headcount and keep other costs in check while continuing to generate efficiency that meets 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. Geo-political risks, port actions and other labor disruptions, and 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.

¹Directly related cost of transportation and other expenses totals Operating Expenses from Airfreight services, Ocean freight and ocean services and Customs brokerage and other services as shown in the Condensed Consolidated Statements of Earnings.

²Salaries and other operating expenses totals Salaries and related, Rent and occupancy, Depreciation and amortization, Selling and promotion and Other as shown in the Condensed Consolidated Statements of Earnings.

During the three and twelve months ended December 31, 2024 we repurchased 2.0 million and 7.1 million shares of common stock at an average price of $120.14 and $119.47 per share, respectively. During the three and twelve months ended December 31, 2023 we repurchased 1.6 million and 12.1 million shares of common stock at an average price of $119.22 and $114.68 per share, respectively. In addition, during 2024 and 2023, we paid cash dividends of $1.46 and $1.38 per share, respectively.

Investors may submit written questions via e-mail to: investor@expeditors.com. Questions received by the end of business on February 21, 2025 will be considered in management's 8-K “Responses to Selected Questions.”

___________________________________
NOTE: See Disclaimer on Forward-Looking Statements in this release.

¹ Directly related cost of transportation and other expenses totals Operating Expenses from Airfreight services, Ocean freight and ocean services and Customs brokerage and other services as shown in the Condensed Consolidated Statements of Earnings.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20250217712636/en/

Jeffrey S. Musser
President and Chief Executive Officer
(206) 674-3433

Bradley S. Powell
Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer
(206) 674-3412

Geoffrey Buscher
Director - Investor Relations
(206) 892-4510

Source: Expeditors International of Washington, Inc.