FedEx’s aggressive cost cuts are beating weaker demand in battle for investor sentiment

Package deliverer FedEx Corp. is targeting more than $4 billion in cost cuts in the months ahead. But investors, after pummeling the stock in September, catapulted it higher in after-hours trade on Thursday, as those efforts to slash expenses and keep prices higher start to make their way into financials despite continued weakness in shipping demand.

Chief Executive Raj Subramaniam said on the company’s third-quarter earnings call late Thursday that FedEx FDX had saved $1.2 billion year over year in that quarter. He also…