Join our community of smart investors

FedEx continues to ride the e-commerce wave

The delivery company’s shares have almost doubled in value since the start of last year
June 25, 2021
  • Revenue surged by more than a fifth in the year to 31 May to a record $84bn
  • Labour constraints have been driving up operating costs

The accelerated shift towards e-commerce has been one of the biggest trends we’ve seen during the pandemic, with the Mastercard Economics Institute estimating that consumers spent an additional $900bn (£646bn) online in 2020. Across the globe, e-commerce accounted for around $1 of every $5 spent on retail last year, compared with $1 out of every $7 in 2019.

Amazon (US:AMZN) has been a big beneficiary of the online shopping boom, but it is not the only one. Logistics services have also been in high demand to store and transport goods along the supply chain, and deliver all of those packages to consumers’ front doors. As such, investors have been piling into everything from big-box landlords such as Warehouse Reit (WHR) to ‘value-added’ supply chain specialists such as Clipper Logistics (CLG). Delivery companies including Royal Mail (RMG) and FedEx (US:FDX) have also seen their share prices surge over the past year or so.

This is subscriber only content
Start your trial to keep reading
PRINT AND DIGITAL trial

Get 12 weeks for £12
  • Essential access to the website and app
  • Magazine delivered every week
  • Investment ideas, tools and analysis
Have an account? Sign in