FedEx is spinning its freight trucking business into a standalone company
Shares of FedEx Corp (NYSE:FDX) opened the session at $294, but have pulled back from its highs slightly, last seen 4.6% higher at $288.64, fueled by a wave of significant developments during the bustling holiday shipping season.
The shipping giant added $5 billion to its market cap after it announced the spinoff of its freight trucking business into a standalone company. This is a highly-anticipated move that analysts believe could create up to $20 billion in shareholder value.
The news is helping FedEx stock brush off a mixed fiscal second-quarter earnings call. The firm's quarterly earnings of $4.05 beat expectations, but revenue of $21.97 billion came in below the consensus estimate. What's more, FedEx lowered its full-year outlook, now expected year-over-year revenue growth to be flat.
Overall intraday options volume is running at 13 times the usual amount, with 33,000 calls and 23,000 puts already exchanging hands. The most active contract is the December 300 call, followed by the 310 call in the same monthly series.
On the charts, FDX staged a massive bull gap in late June, quickly charging to a more than three-year high of $313.84 by mid-July. However, shares have been in recovery mode since suffering a 15.2% post-earnings slide in late September. The shipping name is now 12.8% higher in 2024.