For the first 30 or so months of her tenure, UPS CEO Carol B. Tomé had the wind at her back. For the past year, however, a gale force storm has been blowing right at the company. The question is whether she can steer Big Brown through an environment bereft of tailwinds that may have spawned a false sense of security.
From mid-2020 to early 2023, UPS (NYSE: UPS) fired on all cylinders, propelled by massive and unsustainable spikes in delivery demand from the pandemic, fat rate and yield increases, big operating margins, unprecedented dividend hikes, and relatively muted competition.
