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UPS has cut 34,000 jobs — a lot more than planned — and earnings show the move paid off

UPS’s stock jumps toward its biggest gain in more than three years, as investors cheered an upbeat revenue outlook and aggressive delivery network changes

Last Updated: Oct. 28, 2025 at 8:35 a.m. ET
First Published: Oct. 28, 2025 at 7:16 a.m. ET

UPS’s stock looked to surge after the company announced it beat profits by the widest margin in more than four years.Photo: Getty Images

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Shares of United Parcel Service Inc. soared early Tuesday trading, after the package-delivery giant reported third-quarter earnings that beat expectations by the widest margin in years and said it cut a lot more jobs than it previously said were planned.

The company disclosed that through September, it had reduced its workforce by 34,000 employees, which represented 6.9% of the approximately 490,000 employees it had at the end of 2024. UPS also closed 93 leased and owned buildings this year. The company had said it planned to cut 20,000 jobs and close dozens of buildings this year.

Investors cheered the company’s aggressive move to reconfigure its delivery network to make it more efficient and profitable, also expressing relief that UPS provided a fourth-quarter revenue outlook that was above expectations. The company had previously said it wouldn’t provide a full-year revenue estimate due to uncertainties about tariffs and the economy, so investors welcomed any forward guidance.

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The Stock

UPS+2.29%

shot up 12.2% toward a three-month in premarket trading. That put it on track for the biggest one-day gain since the 14.1% jump on Feb. 1, 2022.

The company said that, with its network changes, it cut costs by $2.2 billion this year, through Sept. 30, and it expects to save $3.5 billion over the full year. The savings come as UPS said earlier this year that it was reducing the business it does with Amazon.com Inc.

AMZN+1.23%

by more than 50%, because it was not profitable.

The move seems to be paying off. The company reported net income for the quarter to Sept. 30 that fell 14.8% to $1.31 billion, but adjusted earnings per share, which excludes nonrecurring items, of $1.74 beat the average analyst estimate compiled by FactSet of $1.29. The margin of that beat was the widest since the first quarter of 2021, according to FactSet data.

Total revenue declined 3.7% to $21.42 billion but was above the FactSet consensus of $20.84 billion.

UPS’s domestic package business saw revenue fall 2.6% to $14.22 billion, as a decline in volume offset an increase in revenue per package, but that beat the FactSet consensus of $13.74 billion.

Meanwhile, international revenue rose 5.9% to $4.67 billion to top expectations of $4.4 billion, while supply-chain and freight revenue dropped 22.1% to $2.52 billion to miss expectations of $2.69 billion.

For the fourth quarter, UPS expects revenue of $24 billion, which is above the current FactSet consensus of $23.82 billion.

The stock has slumped 29.3% in 2025 through Monday, while the S&P 500 has advanced 16.9%.