On the Call: FedEx CFO defends forecast
FedEx chief financial officer defends earnings forecast questioned by analyst
FedEx Corp. Chief Financial Officer Alan Graf denied that the company was predicting unrealistically low earnings for the coming year so that it could deliver better-than-expected results.
The package-delivery company said Wednesday that it expects earnings per share in the year ending in May 2014 to rise 7 to 13 percent. That implies per-share profit of $6.67 to $7.04. Analysts polled by FactSet predicted $7.28 per share.
On a conference call, Macquarie Capital analyst Kelly Dougherty asked FedEx executives, "How much of this guidance is you guys setting the bar to a very achievable level and then kind of potentially seeing upside?"
Graf: "I promise you we don't play games like that ... This is our best shot of what we see today based on all the factors that we've talked about, and we are certainly not trying to play any games here."
