Expeditors Aims for 15% Growth

Expeditors International of Washington (EXPD) is our best-performing stock on the Buy List this year. Since January, shares of EXPD are up over 60%. Reuters takes a closer look at the company:

Logistics company Expeditors International of Washington Inc. is aiming for long-term annual growth through taking business from competitors and fueled by robust expansion of global trade, the company’s top executives said on Wednesday.
“We’re going to stick to our core business, continue seeking opportunities to take market share and open new offices,” Chief Executive Officer Peter Rose told Reuters in an interview at Expeditors headquarters in Seattle.
Rose co-founded Expeditors in 1981 with $350,000. In 2005 the company, which specializes in ocean and air freight forwarding, reported revenue of $3.9 billion and net profit of $218.6 million. That was up from $3.32 billion revenue and net income of $156.1 million in 2004.
Chief Financial Officer Jordan Gates said Expeditors does not provide a short-term outlook, but usually “shoots for annual growth of 15 percent.”
“That remains the long-term goal,” he said.
Since its founding Expeditors has experienced single-digit growth only twice Rose said: in 1991 when the first Gulf War was fought and in 2003 when the Iraq War began.
Much of the company’s growth has been fueled by growing global trade, in particular trade from Asia to North America as U.S. manufacturing has shifted overseas.
Expeditors now has 180 offices worldwide, including 33 in China, and plans to open 50 to 100 more around the world over the next five years, Rose said.

Posted by on July 6th, 2006 at 9:58 am


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