Skip to navigationSkip to main contentSkip to right columnADVERTISEMENTJeff LewisSun, August 9, 2026 at 10:59 PM GMT+2 7 min readUnited Parcel Service, Inc. (NYSE:UPS) shares surged in premarket trading on July 28 after the package-delivery company reported a second-quarter beat and raised its 2026 outlook. Revenue reached $22.83 billion, above the $21.81 billion consensus estimate, while adjusted earnings of $1.76 per share exceeded the $1.66 estimate. UPS now expects full-year revenue of approximately $91.2 billion, up from $89.7 billion, and adjusted earnings of approximately $7.22 per share.The more important development was operational. Eighteen months after announcing an accelerated reduction in lower-margin Amazon volume, UPS said it had completed the planned "glide down" and the related phase of its network reconfiguration. That did not end the Amazon relationship: Amazon had accounted for more than 13% of UPS revenue at its peak, but its contribution had fallen to 8.8% by the end of the first quarter.That strategy was always supposed to make UPS smaller before making it more profitable. The second quarter offered the clearest evidence yet that the second part may finally be starting. U.S. Domestic average daily package volume fell 3.3%, but revenue rose 6% as revenue per piece increased 9.3%. Adjusted domestic operating profit increased 21%, lifting the segment's adjusted margin to 8% from roughly 7% a year earlier.Still, the margin remains well below the International segment's 12.4%, and fuel surcharges contributed to the stronger revenue-per-piece result. The core tension is whether UPS has created a durably more profitable domestic network, or whether fuel surcharges and temporary restructuring effects made one quarter look better than the underlying cost structure.Bernstein Raises UPS Price Target to $128 After Strong Q4 BeatBULL CASEThe bull case is that UPS has begun to prove the logic behind sacrificing Amazon volume: fewer packages can produce more revenue and profit when the packages that remain carry better yields.The domestic operating bridge is the strongest evidence. Average daily volume declined from 16.55 million packages to 16.00 million, yet U.S. Domestic revenue rose to $14.93 billion. Adjusted operating profit increased to $1.19 billion from $982 million, and the segment added approximately one percentage point of adjusted margin.That is more meaningful than a conventional earnings beat. UPS deliberately removed a large amount of business from its network, then returned the segment to revenue growth before volume had recovered. Revenue per piece increased 9.3%, exceeding the 8% increase in adjusted cost per piece. The spread was not large, but it moved in the direction required for the "better, not bigger" strategy to work.Terms and Privacy PolicyEU DSA contactPrivacy & Cookie SettingsMore Info