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Strategies & Market Trends : Market Gems:Stocks w/Strong Earnings and High Tech. Rank -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: tom pope who wrote (9158)	5/8/1998 1:10:00 AM
From: Jenna	Respond to of 120523

Expeditors Announces Net Earnings Increase of 44%..2 cents above estimates.. If this gaps, and the market is down I'll be out in the first 2 1/2 seconds! SEATTLE--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 7, 1998--Expeditors International of Washington, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXPD - news) today announced net earnings of $8,034,000 for the first quarter of 1998, compared with $5,598,000 for the same quarter of 1997, an increase of 44%. Net revenues for the first quarter increased 31% to $75,764,000 as compared with $57,718,000 reported for the first quarter of 1997. Total revenues and operating income were $223,349,000 and $12,699,000 in 1998 compared with $195,969,000 and $8,581,000 for the same quarter of 1997, increases of 14% and 48%, respectively. Diluted net earnings per share for the first quarter was $.30 as compared with $.22 for the same quarter in 1997, an increase of 36%. The company also reported that same store net revenues and operating income increased 22% and 39%, respectively for the first quarter of 1998 when compared with 1997. ''It's always nice to get a solid quarter behind us to start the year,'' said Peter J. Rose, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. ''We continued to experience favorable operating leverage during this quarter. Compared to 1997, our net revenues increased 31% while our operating expenses increased by only 28%. This leverage then resulted in a 48% increase in operating income. This was not an easy quarter over quarter comparison as the first quarter of 1997 had also been up strongly over 1996. In fact, we have reported a 129% increase in operating income over the two year period--something we think is quite significant,'' Rose commented. ''Despite all of the concerns about the Asian currency woes and its potential to cause waves throughout the global economy, our employees continued to focus on things they have some ability to control. Cost containment, constantly improving customer service and the search for new opportunities are the fundamental controllable concepts that are critical to continued profitability in this business. It's always rewarding to see this focus on fundamentals reflected in the numbers,'' Rose concluded. Expeditors is a global logistics company headquartered in Seattle, Washington. The company employs trained professionals in 130 offices and 11 international service centers located on six continents linked into a seamless worldwide network through an integrated information management system. Services include air and ocean freight forwarding, vendor consolidation, customs clearance, marine insurance, distribution and other value added international logistics services.