Sterling Plaza 2, 3rd Floor Bellevue, Washington 98006
CONTACTS:
Daniel R. Wall
David A. Hackett
Geoffrey Buscher
President and Chief Executive Officer
Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer
Director - Investor Relations
(206) 674-3455
(206) 674-3400
(206) 892-4510
FOR IMMEDIATE 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 (EPS1) 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.”
1Diluted earnings attributable to shareholders per share.
NOTE: See Disclaimer on Forward-Looking Statements in this release.
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:
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.
NOTE: See Disclaimer on Forward-Looking Statements in this release.
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
$
1,811,151
$
1,776,675
2%
Salaries and other operating expenses 2
$
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
1Directly 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.
2Salaries 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.”
NOTE: See Disclaimer on Forward-Looking Statements in this release.
EXPEDITORS INTERNATIONAL OF WASHINGTON, INC.
AND SUBSIDIARIES
Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheets
(In thousands, except per share data)
(Unaudited)
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
EXPEDITORS INTERNATIONAL OF WASHINGTON, INC.
AND SUBSIDIARIES
Condensed Consolidated Statements of Earnings
(In thousands, except per share data)
(Unaudited)
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
EXPEDITORS INTERNATIONAL OF WASHINGTON, INC.
AND SUBSIDIARIES
Condensed Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows
(In thousands)
(Unaudited)
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
EXPEDITORS INTERNATIONAL OF WASHINGTON, INC.
AND SUBSIDIARIES
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 expenses1
$
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 expenses2
$
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 expenses1
$
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 expenses2
$
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
1 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.
2Other 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
