Expeditors International of Washington (EXPD) Stock Price & How to Invest

Expeditors International of Washington, based in Bellevue, has done the same thing since 1979: it arranges the movement of other companies' cargo without owning the aircraft or the ships. It buys space from airlines and ocean carriers in bulk, consolidates customer shipments into that space, and charges the shipper more than it paid the carrier. Sitting alongside the forwarding business is a large customs brokerage and trade compliance arm that files import entries, classifies goods and computes duty, plus order management, warehousing and domestic transcontinental trucking. Roughly 20,400 people work out of wholly-owned offices rather than franchises or agents, and the pay model is unusual: branch and executive bonuses come out of a fixed share of operating income, so the cost base falls almost as fast as profits when the cycle turns.

The investment picture hinges on one accounting distinction. Gross revenue of about $12.04B includes the money that passes straight through to airlines and shipping lines, so the roughly 2x price-to-sales ratio implied by that figure means very little. Net revenue, defined as gross revenue less transportation expense, was about $3.94B over the same twelve months, and the ~$24.2B market value works out closer to 6x that. Trailing operating income near $1.18B converts about 30 cents of every net revenue dollar into profit, toward the upper end of the company's historical range, because the 2026 airfreight rate spike arrived faster than the cost base grew. The balance sheet holds about $1.03B of cash against no meaningful debt, and the share count keeps falling: 138.0 million shares outstanding at the end of 2024 became 130.0 million by July 2026.

Freight is a rate cycle, and rate cycles end. Trailing earnings capture an airfreight spike that management itself expects to normalize over time, so roughly 27x sits on profits that may be nearer a cyclical high than a base. Concentration in Asia-to-US and Asia-to-Europe technology flows means a pause in AI hardware capital spending, or a tariff change that redirects transpacific volumes, would show up in tonnage within a quarter. Several conditions currently tightening capacity in Expeditors' favor, including the Middle East conflict, disruption around the Strait of Hormuz and Red Sea routing, could reverse quickly. Far larger consolidated forwarders press on buy-rate scale, DSV after its DB Schenker acquisition and Kuehne + Nagel among them, and the company's own filings state it cannot forecast the net long-term effect of the current trade environment on volumes.

14 analysts publish price targets on EXPD, averaging $177.71 against a $186.12 price as of August 2026, or -4.5%. The published targets run from $100.00 to $220.00, a moderate spread, and the ratings split 3 buy, 9 hold, 5 sell. Over the last six months there have been 10 raises and 0 cuts among the published actions. A price target is what an analyst published on a date, not a prediction, and sell-side ratings skew positive across the whole market.

Read the full EXPD forecast and price target for the target table, the recent rating actions by firm, and how the consensus has shifted.

We give no verdict on Expeditors International of Washington. Both cases are real, which is why the question is contested at all, so here is the strongest version of each.

The case for buying. AI hardware is filling freighter decks. Airfreight tonnage rose 14% year over year in the June 2026 quarter while average sell rates rose 44%, taking airfreight net revenue up roughly 42% to about $360M in three months. The most optimistic published target, $220.00, assumes this works close to its best case.

The case against. Freight is a rate cycle, and rate cycles end. The most pessimistic target, $100.00, is roughly what EXPD is worth if this bites instead.

Read the full bull and bear case on EXPD, including what would have to change to break either one. Walnut is not an investment adviser.

A simple financial snapshot. These are approximations and refresh quarterly; for current figures see Expeditors International of Washington's investor relations page or your broker.

• Gross revenue (TTM, includes freight paid to carriers): ~$12.04B, up from ~$11.07B in fiscal 2025
• Net revenue (TTM, gross revenue less transportation expense): ~$3.94B, after ~$8.10B paid out to airlines and ocean lines
• Operating income (TTM): ~$1.18B, about 30% of net revenue and about 10% of gross revenue
• Diluted EPS (TTM) and P/E: ~$6.88, about 27x at ~$186 per share
• Market cap, cash and debt: ~$24.2B market cap, ~$1.03B cash, no meaningful debt, ~$23.2B enterprise value
• Dividend: ~$0.81 semi-annual (~$1.62 annualized, ~0.9% yield), the 31st consecutive annual increase

The gap between the two revenue lines is the whole exercise. Measured against ~$12.04B of gross revenue the stock looks like 2x sales, which would be cheap for a business earning roughly 41% on equity; measured against the ~$3.94B of net revenue Expeditors actually keeps, the same price is about 6x. Enterprise value near $23.2B against ~$1.18B of trailing operating income is close to 20x EBIT, and both the numerator and the denominator reflect an airfreight market running unusually hot through 2026.

Other names that sit close to EXPD: same theme, named as a direct competitor, or held beside it in the same funds. Each entry says which. Worth a look if you are thinking about diversification within a thesis rather than concentration on one ticker.

There are three common ways to get EXPD exposure. Buy shares (or fractional shares) directly at any major broker. Hold an ETF that includes it, which spreads the position across many companies. Or build it into a focused thematic portfolio, so EXPD sits alongside other stocks that express the same thesis.

Walnut takes the portfolio route. Describe a thesis where EXPD fits (for example “AI infrastructure” or “dividend-growth large-caps”) and the AI proposes 5 to 6 constituents with target weights. You review the plan and fund it through your own broker when you're ready.

New to this? Start with how to invest in stocks, see how to analyze a stock with AI, or compare the best AI stock analyzers.

Expeditors is a debt-free, high-return operator whose profits ride a freight rate cycle that is currently running hot, which flatters the earnings and the multiple at the same time.

Whether EXPD is worth buying today depends more on your time horizon and what you already hold than on any single call. We walk through valuation, what would have to go right, and the risks in is EXPD a buy or a sell?, and where the stock could go from here in the EXPD stock forecast.

For income investors, whether EXPD pays a dividend and how the payout looks is covered in does EXPD pay a dividend? And to weigh EXPD against a peer, read the full side-by-side comparisons: EXPD vs DB and EXPD vs RXO.