XPO (NYSE:XPO) Shares Gap Up on Earnings Beat

XPO, Inc. (NYSE:XPO)’s stock price gapped up before the market opened on Thursday after the company announced better than expected quarterly earnings. The stock had previously closed at $136.31, but opened at $149.99. XPO shares last traded at $148.90, with a volume of 360,526 shares.

The transportation company reported $0.89 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.68 by $0.21. XPO had a net margin of 4.57% and a return on equity of 31.16%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

XPO has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on XPO from $150.00 to $167.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. TD Cowen increased their target price on shares of XPO from $137.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Oppenheimer upped their price objective on shares of XPO from $148.00 to $176.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Barclays decreased their price target on XPO from $170.00 to $165.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upped their price objective on shares of XPO from $150.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 10th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and fourteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, XPO presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $151.06.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in XPO. D1 Capital Partners L.P. increased its position in shares of XPO by 84.2% during the third quarter. D1 Capital Partners L.P. now owns 4,711,042 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $506,484,000 after acquiring an additional 2,153,042 shares in the last quarter. C2P Capital Advisory Group LLC d.b.a. Prosperity Capital Advisors bought a new stake in shares of XPO in the fourth quarter worth $163,938,000. Life Planning Partners Inc increased its position in XPO by 12,923.2% during the fourth quarter. Life Planning Partners Inc now owns 837,393 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $109,824,000 after acquiring an additional 830,963 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in XPO in the fourth quarter valued at about $91,158,000. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company grew its stake in shares of XPO by 239.5% during the 3rd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 553,305 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $59,486,000 after purchasing an additional 390,320 shares during the period. 97.73% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

XPO Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.04, a current ratio of 1.06 and a quick ratio of 1.06. The company has a market capitalization of $17.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 47.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.75 and a beta of 2.12. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $141.35 and its 200-day moving average is $127.57.

About XPO

XPO, Inc provides freight transportation services in the United States, rest of North America, France, the United Kingdom, rest of Europe, and internationally. The company operates in two segments, North American LTL and European Transportation. The North American LTL segment provides customers with less-than-truckload (LTL) services, such as geographic density and day-definite domestic services.