MEMPHIS — FedEx's second-quarter earnings jumped 23 percent, but the package delivery company missed Wall Street forecasts and left its expectation for the full fiscal year unchanged.
FedEx said a jump in plane maintenance costs blunted gains the company reaped from managing costs, lowering its pension expense and growing its export package revenue. The company expects the increase in aircraft maintenance costs to subside starting in the fourth fiscal quarter.
Shares of the Memphis company fell more than 4 percent in premarket trading about 90 minutes ahead of the market opening.
Overall, FedEx Corp. earned $616 million, or $2.14 per share, in its fiscal second quarter. That is up from $500 million, or $1.57, in last year's quarter, when FedEx also missed analyst expectations as customers continued to shift toward cheaper ground-shipping options and away from overnight air.
Total revenue climbed 5 percent to $11.94 billion in this year's quarter.
But analysts expected FedEx to earn $2.22 per share on revenue of $11.97 billion, according to Zacks Investment Research.
FedEx said it still expects full-year earnings of between $8.50 and $9 per share. Analysts surveyed by FactSet forecast earnings of $9.11 per share for the year.