CluenexUnited Parcel Service UPS
United Parcel Service scores weak on business quality (4.1 of 10). Here is why, in plain words, and what our sealed record shows.
Why it matters
- What United Parcel Service does
UPS moves packages and freight worldwide, charging businesses and consumers for time-definite delivery networks. Revenue relies on ground and air logistics handling millions of parcels daily.
- What it does best
UPS operates an unmatched physical delivery network, producing an 81.9% gross margin that outpaces peers like FedEx at 62.1%. This dense infrastructure creates severe barriers to entry.
- The main risk
Revenue contraction of 2.6% highlights shrinking package volumes as core demand slows. Margin compression threatens profitability if labor and operating costs outpace pricing power.
Quality, check by check
Scored against its own industry, from company filings.
Operating margin rests at 7.3% while FCF margin hits 24%, ranking in the top quartile of its sector. Margins are compressing as volume declines, defying traditional scale benefits.
Massive physical scale locks in enterprise shippers who cannot easily replicate its global logistics web. It ranks in the top decile for gross margin at the 99th sector percentile.
Revenue growth sits at -2.6% annually, ranking in the bottom quartile of its sector at the 14th percentile. History shows a clear top-line fade from $100B in 2022.
Total debt sits at $24.1B with interest coverage at 6x, leaving the balance sheet strained. Free cash flow of $5.5B supports operations, but financials are softening.
Insiders
Executives and directors, from SEC Form 4 filings we read ourselves. Open market trades only; grants, option exercises and pre-planned sales left out.
No open market buys or unplanned sales by executives or directors.
Our sealed record on UPS
Verdicts appear here 30 days after we publish them; members see today's. Each one is in the nightly ledger, fingerprinted the night it was made.
The first sealed verdicts appear here on Oct 11, 2026.
Questions
United Parcel Service scores weak on the Cluenex quality check (4.1 of 10), measured against its own industry. Profitability is weak, moat strong, growth slow and financial health fair.
In the last 90 days of SEC Form 4 filings: No open market buys or unplanned sales by executives or directors.
Oct 27, 2026, before the open.
See UPS today
- Today's verdict on UPS, and why
- Fair value with cautious, base and optimistic cases
- The exact price that would change the verdict
- Which stocks each signal names, the night it fires
Cite this page: Cluenex, “United Parcel Service (UPS)”, https://cluenex.com/stocks/ups/, data as of Oct 10, 2026.