By now, investors who follow (NYSE: UPS) will know that the company delivered a set of second-quarter results on Tuesday that can be best described as "disappointing." The market certainly felt that way -- as of midmorning Wednesday, the stock was down by close to 14% from where it traded before the report came out.

The quarter did feature some positives, including a return to delivery volume growth in the U.S., and the company is set for a stronger second half. Still, the question marks around its management will likely remain until it can report a few quarters of stable earnings. It all makes for a complicated investment proposition. 

Management just backpedaled on its initial full-year guidance for the second year running. I'll get to this year in a moment, but first, consider what happened in 2023. UPS faced understandable challenges, such as a protracted and contentious contract renegotiation with the union representing 340,000 of its workers. The difficulties management had in coming to an agreement with labor caused some customers to shift their shipping to other networks for fear of strike actions. In addition, UPS experienced deteriorating end-market demand due to relatively high interest rates and slowing economic growth.

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Source Fool.com