Best Logistics Stocks for Global Trade Growth

The Importance Of Trade

Even if tariffs and geopolitical tensions are disturbing global trade, the tendency of ever more complex supply chains is not going away. At most, this is more of a redirection of global trade flow than a significant departure from globalization, when observed at a large enough scale.

In fact, the volume of international trade has been rising very consistently since 1991, and shows no sign of slowing down.

Source: Our World In Data

So investors should pay attention to the leading logistical companies, which not only form the backbone of international trade but also represent a good way to get exposure to the sector.

Some of these companies are truly global, present all over the world. Some others are more specialized in a specific region. And others do not directly operate planes, ships, or trucks, but instead act as facilitators for either connection nodes, or so-called last-mile deliveries.

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1. United Parcel Service (UPS)

As one of the first true global carriers, UPS is maybe the world’s most recognized logistics provider, with an integrated network of ground, air, and ocean services.

The company employs 490,000+ people in 195 distribution facilities with over 25 million square feet of warehousing space.

UPS operates over 600 airports with 525 aircraft, of which 292 are directly owned.

It sends packages each business day for 1.6 million shipping customers to 10.1 million delivery customers, in over 200 countries and territories.

In 2024 there was an average of 22.4 million packages per day, totaling 5.7 billion packages during the year.

The company also has a healthcare segment, which provides logistics services to hospitals and other healthcare facilities, notably with ultra-reliable cold chain logistics. This segment employs 10,000 people, serves 150,000 customers, and is a key partner for clinical trials all over the world.

Source: UPS

This activity generated $91.1B of revenues in 2024, with a majority of income coming from the US domestic market. It generated a net income of $5.7B.

The company is also distributing a generous (and growing) dividend to its shareholders, with a rather high yield of almost 8% in September 2025.

Source: UPS

2. FedEx Corporation (FDX)

FedEx is the other large global carrier for packages, founded in 1971 by decorated Marine Frederick W. Smith, who died recently in June 2025. The company has grown quickly since, through a mix of organic growth and acquisitions.

Source: FedEx

FedEx made a specialty of overnight and international freight, working almost all over the world (220 countries).

It operates 698 aircraft & 200,000 motorized vehicles, employs 500,000+ people, runs 5,000+ facilities, and ships 17 million packages daily.

E-commerce has been a major boon for the company, even if its corporate sending of packages and documents is still going strong.

In addition to selling shipping, FedEx also offers FedEx Supply Chain, an all-inclusive e-commerce logistical solution, handling warehousing, order fulfillment, returns, and recycling for its customers, with 475 million packages processed annually.

FedEx Supply Chain is combined with an extremely dense network of retail locations, with more than 50,000 locations in the US, including drop-off and pick-up available at Walgreens, Dollar Generals, Office Depot, etc.

The company generated $87.9B in revenues in 2024, and a net income of $4B.

The company has seen relatively stagnant sales in the past 2 years, with total revenues higher in 2022, standing at $93B, due to a relative decline in cross-border trade.

However, this trend seems to reverse a little already for 2025 forecasts. In addition, net income has nevertheless managed to grow due to improving efficiency (2022’s net income was $3.8B).

3. ZTO Express (ZTO)

ZTO Express is one of China’s largest parcel delivery firms.

So while the USA is trying to decouple its economy from China, the growth of Chinese trade with the rest of the world, and the economic growth in Southeast Asia, should largely compensate for any lost trade volume with the US.

Today, China is the most important trade partner for almost all countries on Earth, surpassing the previous domination of global trade by the US, except for the USA and some countries in Western Europe.

Source: Al Jazeera

ZTO Express was founded in 2002 and IPOed in 2016, the largest IPO of that year. Since 2018, Alibaba (BABA +2.15%) and its logistics arm, Cainiao, collectively hold a 10% stake in ZTO Express. It was listed in the Hong Kong market in 2022 and was included in the Hang Seng index in 2025.

ZTO controls 19.4% of the parcel market in China in 2024, and was the industry’s largest courier by parcel volume.

It is more focused on large parcels, leaving the cheaper small parcels with only one item (a growing trend in Chinese e-commerce) to its competitors, preferring to focus on profits.

In 2024, the company made $44.2B in revenues, for a net income of $8.9B

4. C.H. Robinson Worldwide (CHRW)

Most packages pass through many transit points and transportation methods from the factory, to the warehouse, to the distribution centers, and then to the final customers.

While the high-value parcels needing speed tend to be handled by air transport and integrated companies like UPS or FedEx, bigger or cheaper goods tend to transit more by sea, rail, and ultimately trucks.

As one of the largest 3PLs (third-party logistics providers), CHRW’s role in this process is that of a logistics orchestrator. It connects shippers to carriers across ocean, air, trucking, and rail.

So the value the company provides is not in owning the means of transportation, but being a trusted, transparent partner to manage flexible supply chains, connecting together 150,000+ carriers.

CHRW is the largest mover of truckload freight in North America, managing globally 37 million shipments annually and 700,000 customer quotes per day.

The company generated $17.7B in revenues in 2024, for a net income of $465M.The company has been very consistent in raising its dividends over time, with a 15% CAGR of dividends/share in the past 25 years. In total, it has returned 114% of free cash flow to its shareholders since 2019.

Source: CHRW

With its stronger focus on North America, the company could benefit from the effort of reindustrialization, even if overseas trade declines.

5. XPO, Inc. (XPO)

While most logistics companies focus on long-distance freight, this leaves the question of actual delivery in the last mile not so simple. This is a more expensive process that requires a strong local presence.

The same can be said about less-than-truckload (LTL), where something needs to be transported, but is not voluminous enough to fill an entire truck.

These two segments are the specialty of XPO, which covers 99% of all US zip codes, as well as Canada, Mexico, and the Caribbean region.

Source: XPO

XPO is also active in Europe, being, for example, the #1 full truckload (FTL) broker and the #1 pallet network (LTL) provider in France, Spain, and Portugal. It is also the largest single-owner LTL network in the UK.

The company’s 38,000 employees moved 18 billion pounds of freight in 2024 for 55,000 customers with 608 locations.

The market where XPO operates creates a mix of local actors and blue-chip companies looking to fill the gap in their logistical supply chain.

Source: XPO

XPO generated $4.9B of revenues in 2024, for a net income of $387M. The company is also becoming more efficient over time, and as it scales up, revenue per pound of package transported increasing steadily.

Source: XPO

Overall, XPO is a tech-driven company that benefits from increasing global trade efficiency and growing demand for parcels from e-commerce, as well as increasingly complex industrial supply chains.