United Parcel Service reported fourth-quarter earnings below analysts' estimates and set a weaker-than-expected profit forecast for 2013, sending its shares lower.
UPS, the world's largest package-delivery company, said on Thursday that it expected earnings to rise 6 percent to 12 percent in 2013, to $4.80 to $5.06 per share, below the average Wall Street forecast of $5.11.
The company posted a fourth-quarter net loss of $1.75 billion, or $1.83 per share, after a $3 billion noncash charge for pension accounting. In the year-earlier period, it earned $725 million, or 74 cents per share.
Factoring out one-time and noncash items, the profit came to $1.32 per share, below the analysts' average estimate of $1.38, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.
Revenue rose 2.9 percent to $14.57 billion from $14.17 billion.
After the earnings announcement, the company's shares fell in pre-market trading. (Click here to see how UPS shares are trading after the closing bell.)
Earlier this month UPS dropped its $7 billion bid for Dutch delivery firm TNT Express after European regulators said they would veto the deal, citing antitrust concerns.