Open the filing on EDGAREARNINGS RELEASE
EXPEDITORS REPORTS FIRST QUARTER 2026 EPS OF $1.71
BELLEVUE, WASHINGTON - May 5, 2026, Expeditors International of Washington, Inc. (NYSE:EXPD) today announced first quarter 2026 financial results including the following comparisons to the same quarter of 2025:
Diluted Net Earnings Attributable to Shareholders per share (EPS) increased 16% to $1.71
Net Earnings Attributable to Shareholders increased 13% to $230 million
Operating Income increased 11% to $295 million
Revenues increased 4% to $2.8 billion
Airfreight tonnage increased 5% and ocean container volume decreased 4%
Customs, Transcon, Distribution, and Order Management each achieved double-digit revenue growth
Cash returned to shareholders in the form of share repurchases was $288 million
Daniel R. Wall, President and Chief Executive Officer, commented:
“During a period marked by significant disruption in the final month of the quarter, we continued to demonstrate our ability to bring solutions to our customers. This quarter also demonstrates the resilience of our non-asset-based model, as we grew revenues and margins in most of our products and geographies. We relied heavily on the hard work of our people, especially those close to the conflict in the Middle East. We were well prepared for disruption and adapted quickly. As soon as hostilities began, we developed strategies and solutions for our customers to keep freight moving out of and around impacted areas. In periods of heightened disruption, our teams demonstrate their capabilities and advance our aspiration to be the world's most trusted and valued logistics provider. I want to thank our people for their dedication and focus during this challenging time.”
Q1 2026 Operational Highlights
Airfreight services: “Airfreight gross margins increased sequentially from the fourth quarter of 2025 on higher per-kilo profitability, from higher rates and a more stable balance between sell and buy pricing for the first two months of the quarter, as air capacity was less constrained until the conflict in the Middle East began. Airfreight tonnage increased from the first quarter of 2025 as demand from technology customers remained strong. We remained agile and focused on risk management while also managing buy and sell rates during this dynamic time.”
Ocean freight and ocean services: “As expected, the imbalance of global capacity versus demand, which we began to see in the latter half of 2025, continued to impact the ocean industry and led to a decline in our ocean revenues. The decline was due to decreases in both pricing and volume compared to Q1 of 2025. We were impacted by lower average profitability per-container and volume, primarily on exports from Asia. However, with favorable buy rates and disciplined cost control, we partially offset top-line pressure.”
Diluted earnings attributable to shareholders per share.
Customs brokerage and other services: “Higher entry volumes and complexity, along with tariff-related activity, drove revenue increases in our customs brokerage business. In addition, disciplined cost control and pricing increases led to higher gross margins, both sequentially and year-over-year. Our other products within Customs brokerage and other services all generated double-digit growth and profitability from a diverse range of geographies and business sectors, driven foremost by demand from hyperscalers and other high-value technology customers. While we manage through the ongoing global uncertainty in the ocean marketplace, our growth and profitability are well balanced by the growth in these other products.
“Looking ahead, we expect the freight environment to remain highly unpredictable, as global events and macroeconomic concerns weigh on our customers and our industry. The air market may continue to face rapid shifts in capacity, routing, pricing, and possible fuel shortages, and we expect the ocean market to remain impacted by abundant capacity and weak pricing. At the same time, our pipeline of new business is strong and we expect continued robust demand for our customs brokerage services due to elevated tariff-driven complexity, tariff refund challenges, and dynamics in the global trade environment. We will continue to work closely with our customers and carrier partners to find solutions and deliver value, while aligning our resources to maximize profitability.”
David A. Hackett, Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, added:
“With headcount sequentially flat versus the prior quarter, coupled with our revenue and margin growth, we meaningfully increased our productivity from the fourth quarter of 2025 as our operating efficiency achieved our 30% historical target. In 2025, we made strategic investments in headcount aimed at higher-growth opportunities, particularly in customs brokerage, as well as essential investments in technology, including artificial intelligence. We are starting to achieve benefits from these investments, which are helping to drive our productivity gains. For a second sequential quarter, operating expenses, excluding transportation-related costs, increased less than one percent compared to the fourth quarter of 2025.”
Mr. Hackett noted that the Company generated $309 million of cash from operations and returned $288 million to shareholders via share repurchases during the first quarter of 2026.
About Expeditors International of Washington, Inc:
Expeditors is a global logistics company headquartered in Bellevue, Washington. The Company employs trained professionals in 171 district offices and numerous branch locations located on six continents linked into a seamless worldwide network through an integrated information management system. Services include the consolidation or forwarding of air and ocean freight, customs brokerage, vendor consolidation, cargo insurance, time-definite transportation, order management, warehousing and distribution and customized logistics solutions.
Disclaimer on Forward-Looking Statements:
Forward-looking statements notice
Certain statements contained in this news release are “forward-looking statements,” based on management’s views with respect to future events and underlying assumptions that involve risks and uncertainties. These forward-looking statements include statements regarding the resilience of our non-asset-based model; strategies and solutions to keep customer freight moving out of and around impacted areas; our aspiration to be the most trusted and valued logistics company in the world; our disciplined cost control; a strong pipeline of new business and diverse areas of growth; robust demand for our customs brokerage services; our ability to work closely with our customers and carrier partners to find solutions and deliver value, while aligning our resources to maximize profitability; and our ability to achieve benefits from investments in technology, including artificial intelligence to help drive productivity gains. Future financial performance could differ materially because of factors such as: geopolitical uncertainty; national policy changes on tariffs and other similar measures; new capacity in the marketplace; longer ocean transit times; e-commerce demand in the air market; volatile rates; the price of fuel or fuel shortages; our ability to deliver differentiated performance because of our customer service culture and compensation model; our ability to continue to process an increasing number of more complex customs clearances; and our ability to remain a strong, healthy, unified and resilient organization. Port actions, other labor disruptions, tariffs, and the current uncertainty in the global economy could have the effect of heightening many of the other risks described in Item 1A of our Annual Report on Form 10-K, including, without limitation, those related to the success of our strategy and desire to maintain historical unitary profitability, our ability to attract and retain customers, our ability to manage costs, interruptions to our information technology systems, the ability of third-party providers to perform, and potential litigation and contingencies, including risks associated with tax audits, as updated by our reports on Form 10-Q, filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. These and other factors are discussed in the Company’s regulatory filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including those in “Item 1A. Risk Factors” of the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2025, and the Company’s most recent Form 10-Q. The forward-looking statements contained in this news release speak only as of this date and the Company does not assume any obligation to update them except as required by law.
Expeditors International of Washington, Inc.
First Quarter 2026 Earnings Release, May 5, 2026
Financial Summary for three months ended March 31, 2026 and 2025 (Unaudited)
(in 000's of US dollars except share data)
| Three months ended March 31, |
|---|
| 2026 | 2025 | % Change |
|---|
| Revenues | $2,782,962 | $2,666,419 | 4% |
| Directly related cost of transportation and other expenses | $1,811,151 | $1,776,675 | 2% |
| Salaries and other operating expenses | $676,983 | $623,886 | 9% |
| Operating income | $294,828 | $265,858 | 11% |
| Net earnings attributable to shareholders | $229,610 | $203,795 | 13% |
| Diluted earnings attributable to shareholders per share | $1.71 | $1.47 | 16% |
| Basic earnings attributable to shareholders per share | $1.72 | $1.48 | 16% |
| Diluted weighted average shares outstanding | 134,076 | 138,435 | |
| Basic weighted average shares outstanding | 133,543 | 137,833 | |
Directly related cost of transportation and other expenses totals Operating Expenses from Airfreight services, Ocean freight and ocean services and Customs brokerage and other services as shown in the Condensed Consolidated Statements of Earnings.
Salaries and other operating expenses totals Salaries and related, Rent and occupancy, Depreciation and amortization, Selling and promotion and Other as shown in the Condensed Consolidated Statements of Earnings.
During the three months ended March 31, 2026, we repurchased 2.0 million shares of common stock at an average price of $145.90. During the three months ended March 31, 2025, we repurchased 1.5 million shares of common stock at an average price of $117.29 per share.
| Employee Full-time Equivalents as of March 31, |
|---|
| 2026 | 2025 |
|---|
| North America | 7,524 | 7,098 |
| Europe | 4,204 | 3,935 |
| North Asia | 2,302 | 2,287 |
| South Asia | 2,041 | 1,833 |
| Middle East, Africa and India | 1,506 | 1,440 |
| Latin America | 892 | 829 |
| Information Systems | 1,498 | 1,358 |
| Corporate | 394 | 423 |
| Total | 20,361 | 19,203 |
| First quarter year-over-year percentage increase (decrease) in: |
|---|
| 2026 | Airfreight kilos | Ocean freight FEU |
| January | 7% | (2)% |
| February | 7% | (7)% |
| March | 3% | (4)% |
| Quarter | 5% | (4)% |
Investors may submit written questions via e-mail to: investor@expeditors.com. Questions received by the end of business on May 8, 2026 will be considered in management's 8-K “Responses to Selected Questions.”
Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheets
(In thousands, except per share data)
| March 31, 2026 | December 31, 2025 |
|---|
| Assets: | | |
| Current Assets: | | |
| Cash and cash equivalents | $1,316,497 | $1,314,285 |
| Accounts receivable, less allowance for credit loss of $7,133 at March 31, 2026 and $7,241 at December 31, 2025 | 2,056,808 | 2,021,889 |
| Deferred contract costs | 179,533 | 283,281 |
| Other | 99,228 | 136,167 |
| Total current assets | 3,652,066 | 3,755,622 |
| Property and equipment, less accumulated depreciation and amortization of $657,248 at March 31, 2026 and $651,087 at December 31, 2025 | 457,185 | 462,122 |
| Operating lease right-of-use assets | 544,496 | 550,162 |
| Goodwill | 7,927 | 7,927 |
| Deferred income tax asset, net | 102,872 | 101,671 |
| Other assets, net | 17,134 | 16,134 |
| Total assets | $4,781,680 | $4,893,638 |
| Liabilities: | | |
| Current Liabilities: | | |
| Accounts payable | $1,143,919 | $1,123,429 |
| Accrued expenses, primarily salaries and related costs | 496,370 | 448,055 |
| Contract liabilities | 256,902 | 358,386 |
| Current portion of operating lease liabilities | 113,803 | 110,891 |
| Federal, state and foreign income taxes payable | 30,400 | 32,046 |
| Total current liabilities | 2,041,394 | 2,072,807 |
| Noncurrent portion of operating lease liabilities | 451,178 | 459,698 |
| Deferred income tax liability, net | 2,483 | 3,040 |
| Shareholders’ Equity: | | |
| Common stock, par value $0.01 per share. Issued and outstanding: 132,024 shares at March 31, 2026 and 133,884 shares at December 31, 2025 | 1,320 | 1,339 |
| Additional paid-in capital | - | - |
| Retained earnings | 2,479,067 | 2,538,455 |
| Accumulated other comprehensive loss | (196,017) | (184,161) |
| Total shareholders’ equity | 2,284,370 | 2,355,633 |
| Noncontrolling interest | 2,255 | 2,460 |
| Total equity | 2,286,625 | 2,358,093 |
| Total liabilities and equity | $4,781,680 | $4,893,638 |
5-May-2026 Expeditors International of Washington, Inc. Page 4 of 7
Condensed Consolidated Statements of Earnings
(In thousands, except per share data)
| Three months ended March 31, |
|---|
| 2026 | 2025 |
|---|
| Revenues: | | |
| Airfreight services | $1,030,863 | $901,760 |
| Ocean freight and ocean services | 598,884 | 781,665 |
| Customs brokerage and other services | 1,153,215 | 982,994 |
| Total revenues | 2,782,962 | 2,666,419 |
| Operating Expenses: | | |
| Airfreight services | 769,483 | 648,494 |
| Ocean freight and ocean services | 416,021 | 573,901 |
| Customs brokerage and other services | 625,647 | 554,280 |
| Salaries and related | 499,571 | 457,937 |
| Rent and occupancy | 68,456 | 64,343 |
| Depreciation and amortization | 13,875 | 14,604 |
| Selling and promotion | 10,371 | 8,574 |
| Other | 84,710 | 78,428 |
| Total operating expenses | 2,488,134 | 2,400,561 |
| Operating income | 294,828 | 265,858 |
| Other Income: | | |
| Interest income | 8,640 | 9,184 |
| Other, net | 3,018 | 839 |
| Other income, net | 11,658 | 10,023 |
| Earnings before income taxes | 306,486 | 275,881 |
| Income tax expense | 76,442 | 71,782 |
| Net earnings | 230,044 | 204,099 |
| Less net earnings attributable to the noncontrolling interest | 434 | 304 |
| Net earnings attributable to shareholders | $229,610 | $203,795 |
| Diluted earnings attributable to shareholders per share | $1.71 | $1.47 |
| Basic earnings attributable to shareholders per share | $1.72 | $1.48 |
| Weighted average diluted shares outstanding | 134,076 | 138,435 |
| Weighted average basic shares outstanding | 133,543 | 137,833 |
5-May-2026 Expeditors International of Washington, Inc. Page 5 of 7
Condensed Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows
(In thousands)
| Three months ended March 31, |
|---|
| 2026 | 2025 |
|---|
| Operating Activities: | | |
| Net earnings | $230,044 | $204,099 |
| Adjustments to reconcile net earnings to net cash from operating activities: | | |
| Provisions for losses on accounts receivable | 800 | 761 |
| Deferred income tax benefit | - | 76 |
| Stock compensation expense | 12,823 | 11,549 |
| Depreciation and amortization | 13,875 | 14,604 |
| Other, net | (3,645) | 2,291 |
| Changes in operating assets and liabilities: | | |
| (Increase) decrease in accounts receivable | (49,513) | 108,149 |
| Increase (decrease) in accounts payable and accrued liabilities | 68,351 | (18,419) |
| Decrease in deferred contract costs | 101,136 | 75,973 |
| Decrease in contract liabilities | (98,589) | (89,288) |
| Increase in income taxes payable, net | 38,583 | 30,340 |
| (Increase) decrease in other, net | (4,631) | 2,487 |
| Net cash from operating activities | 309,234 | 342,622 |
| Investing Activities: | | |
| Purchase of property and equipment | (12,612) | (13,152) |
| Other, net | 130 | 156 |
| Net cash from investing activities | (12,482) | (12,996) |
| Financing Activities: | | |
| Proceeds on borrowings on lines of credit, net | 2,864 | 195 |
| Proceeds from issuance of common stock | 3,126 | 13,043 |
| Repurchases of common stock | (287,624) | (177,354) |
| Payments for taxes related to net share settlement of equity awards | (7,544) | (509) |
| Distribution to noncontrolling interest | (650) | (1,346) |
| Net cash from financing activities | (289,828) | (165,971) |
| Effect of exchange rate changes on cash and cash equivalents | (4,712) | 6,545 |
| Change in cash and cash equivalents | 2,212 | 170,200 |
| Cash and cash equivalents at beginning of period | 1,314,285 | 1,148,320 |
| Cash and cash equivalents at end of period | $1,316,497 | $1,318,520 |
| Taxes Paid: | | |
| Income taxes | $35,517 | $40,624 |
5-May-2026 Expeditors International of Washington, Inc. Page 6 of 7
Business Segment Information
(In thousands)
(Unaudited
| UNITED STATES | OTHER NORTH AMERICA | LATIN AMERICA | NORTH ASIA | SOUTH ASIA | EUROPE | MIDDLE EAST, AFRICA AND INDIA | ELIMI- NATIONS | CONSOLI- DATED |
|---|
| For the three months ended March 31, 2026: | | | | | | | | | |
| Revenues | $954,577 | 129,634 | 58,995 | 602,916 | 423,176 | 448,874 | 167,158 | (2,368) | 2,782,962 |
| Directly related cost of transportation and other expenses | $491,134 | 81,293 | 33,542 | 481,724 | 324,245 | 282,069 | 118,772 | (1,628) | 1,811,151 |
| Salaries and related costs | $282,169 | 22,992 | 11,392 | 36,988 | 31,677 | 93,654 | 20,699 | - | 499,571 |
| Other operating expenses | $36,527 | 14,734 | 8,553 | 35,125 | 27,606 | 42,769 | 12,823 | (725) | 177,412 |
| Operating income | $144,747 | 10,615 | 5,508 | 49,079 | 39,648 | 30,382 | 14,864 | (15) | 294,828 |
| Identifiable assets at period end | $2,567,887 | 170,840 | 120,586 | 439,065 | 399,901 | 800,822 | 295,321 | (12,742) | 4,781,680 |
| Capital expenditures | $7,568 | 251 | 149 | 800 | 1,038 | 2,099 | 707 | - | 12,612 |
| Depreciation and amortization | $7,253 | 500 | 246 | 1,342 | 828 | 2,915 | 791 | - | 13,875 |
| Equity | $1,456,421 | 47,210 | 42,610 | 257,768 | 161,247 | 244,451 | 175,389 | (98,471) | 2,286,625 |
| For the three months ended March 31, 2025: | | | | | | | | | |
| Revenues | $854,449 | 116,485 | 62,389 | 695,008 | 364,577 | 422,795 | 152,872 | (2,156) | 2,666,419 |
| Directly related cost of transportation and other expenses | $451,917 | 73,193 | 36,435 | 554,494 | 281,495 | 271,716 | 108,848 | (1,423) | 1,776,675 |
| Salaries and related costs | $258,089 | 19,592 | 10,438 | 40,361 | 28,072 | 81,549 | 19,836 | - | 457,937 |
| Other operating expenses | $22,548 | 14,828 | 9,914 | 37,746 | 23,285 | 43,359 | 15,028 | (759) | 165,949 |
| Operating income | $121,895 | 8,872 | 5,602 | 62,407 | 31,725 | 26,171 | 9,160 | 26 | 265,858 |
| Identifiable assets at period end | $2,588,265 | 177,996 | 107,290 | 503,899 | 348,424 | 772,342 | 277,677 | (19,243) | 4,756,650 |
| Capital expenditures | $8,407 | 226 | 225 | 505 | 874 | 1,156 | 1,759 | - | 13,152 |
| Depreciation and amortization | $8,938 | 497 | 251 | 1,056 | 570 | 2,646 | 646 | - | 14,604 |
| Equity | $1,481,145 | 50,613 | 46,120 | 273,084 | 145,611 | 169,589 | 164,036 | (42,695) | 2,287,503 |
Directly related cost of transportation and other expenses totals Operating Expenses from Airfreight services, Ocean freight and ocean services and Customs brokerage and other services as shown in the Condensed Consolidated Statements of Earnings.
Other operating expenses totals rent and occupancy, depreciation and amortization, selling and promotion and other as shown in the consolidated statements of earnings.
5-May-2026 Expeditors International of Washington, Inc. Page 7 of 7
Contacts
Expeditors International of Washington, Inc. · 3545 Factoria Blvd. SESterling Plaza 2, 3rd Floor Bellevue, Washington 98006 · CONTACTS: Daniel R. Wall · President and Chief Executive Officer · (206) 674-3455
David A. Hackett · Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer · (206) 674-3400
Geoffrey Buscher · Director - Investor Relations · (206) 892-4510