FedEx price target lowered to $288 from $317 at Loop Capital

Loop Capital analyst Rick Paterson lowered the firm’s price target on FedEx (FDX) to $288 from $317 and keeps a Hold rating on the shares after its Q1 earnings miss and guidance cut. Weakness in most freight markets has heightened the focus on self-help stories, and FedEx is such a story, with its DRIVE cost reduction program and the impending consolidation of pickup and delivery networks for air and ground, the analyst tells investors in a research note. Loop adds however that macro headwinds cannot be dispelled so easily, and in the freight industry, it plays out in the form of negative sales mix as customers increasingly shift from faster and higher margin services to slower and lower margin ones. UPS (UPS) was impacted by this in its last quarter, and now FedEx’s results have been again jolted lower by the same effect, the firm stated.