United Continental Holdings, Inc. (UAL) reported Thursday a loss for the first quarter that narrowed from last year, and also came in narrower than analysts' expectations. Meanwhile, Southwest Airlines Co. (LUV) and JetBlue Airways Corp. (JBLU), reported declines in first-quarter profit, with Southwest topping estimates, while JetBlue missed their expectations. Revenues at United Continental and JetBlue topped Street view by a whisker, while Southwest matched.
Chicago, Illinois-based United Continental reported a net loss of $417 million or $1.26 per share for the first quarter, narrower than $448 million or $1.36 per share in the prior-year quarter. Excluding charges, adjusted net loss for the quarter was $325 million or $0.98 per share, compared to adjusted net loss of $286 million or $0.87 per share in the year-ago quarter.
On average, 14 analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected the company to report a loss of $1.09 per share for the quarter. Analysts' estimates typically exclude special items.
Total operating revenue increased 1.4 percent to $8.72 billion from $8.60 billion in the same quarter last year, and topped eleven Wall Street analysts consensus estimate of $8.69 billion.
"Our co-workers pulled together in the first quarter to significantly improve our operational performance and customer service despite challenging weather and high load factors, and I want to thank them for their hard work," UAL Chairman, President and CEO Jeff Smisek said in a statement.
Consolidated passenger revenues edged up 0.7 percent to $7.6 billion, on a consolidated capacity reduction of 4.9 percent.
Consolidated revenue passenger miles or RPMs decreased 1.2 percent on a consolidated capacity or available seat miles decrease of 4.9 percent year-over-year. Consolidated load factor increased 3 percentage points to 81.1 percent from last year.
Consolidated passenger revenue per available seat mile or PRASM increased 5.9 percent, and consolidated unit costs or CASM increased 6.5 percent year-over-year.
Total operating expenses grew 1.3 percent to $8.99 billion from last year, but aircraft fuel expenses declined 5.5 percent from a year ago.
Dallas, Texas-based Southwest Airlines reported net income of $59 million or $0.08 per share, down from $98 million or $0.13 per share in the prior-year quarter. Excluding items, adjusted net profit for the quarter was $53 million or $0.07 per share, compared to adjusted loss of $18 million or $0.02 per share in the year-ago quarter, which excluded $116 million of net favorable special items.
On average, 15 analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected the company to report earnings of $0.02 per share for the third quarter. Analysts' estimates typically exclude special items.
Total operating revenues for the quarter increased 2.3 percent to $4.08 billion from $3.99 billion in the same quarter last year, and matched eleven Wall Street analysts' consensus estimate of $4.08 billion.
Passenger revenues rose 2.3 percent from last year to $3.84 billion, boosted significantly by continued progress on the AirTran integration, fleet modernization efforts, and the Rapid Rewards loyalty program.
Traffic edged up 0.3 percent to 23.76 billion RPMs, and capacity also edged up 0.6 percent to 30.80 billion ASMs from last year. However, load factor edged down 0.2 percentage points to 77.1 percent from the year-ago period. PRASM increased 1.8 percent, and CASM also edged up 0.5 percent year-over-year.
Total operating expenses grew 1.1 percent to $4.01 billion from last year, but fuel and oil expenses declined 3.5 percent from a year ago.
"The significant year-over-year improvement in our first quarter results (excluding special items) was driven by record first quarter revenues and a better-than-expected cost performance," Southwest Chairman, President and CEO Gary Kelly said.
Forest Hills, New York-based JetBlue reported net income of $14 million or $0.05 per share for the first quarter, lower than $30 million or $0.09 per share in the prior-year quarter. On average, 15 analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected the company to earn $0.09 per share in the first quarter. Analysts' estimates typically exclude special items.
Meanwhile, total operating revenues for the quarter grew to $1.30 billion from $1.20 billion in the same quarter last year, and topped ten Wall Street analysts' consensus estimate of $1.29 billion by a whisker. Passenger revenues grew 8.3 percent to $1.19 billion from last year.
"First quarter results were solid but below those of a year ago, primarily due to Hurricane Sandy-related demand weakness in the Northeast during the peak Presidents' Day travel period and higher than expected maintenance costs during the quarter," President and CEO Dave Barger noted.
JetBlue's traffic grew 7.6 percent to 8.51 billion RPMs year-over-year, on a 6.3 percent growth in capacity to 10.14 billion ASMs. Load factor also improved 1 percentage point to reach 83.9 percent from last year.
PRASM increased 1.8 percent year-over-year to 11.70 cents, and CASM grew 4.6 percent from last year.
Operating margin contracted 290 basis points to 4.5 percent from last year, mainly due to an 11.3 percent rise in operating expenses that was driven primarily by a 8 percent increase in aircraft fuel expenses.
Looking ahead, JetBlue said capacity is expected to increase between 6.5 and 8.5 percent in the second quarter, and to increase between 6 and 8 percent for full year 2013.
In Thursday's regular trading session, UAL is currently trading at $31.54, up $0.16 or 0.48% on a volume of 0.93 million shares, and LUV is trading at $13.52, up $0.10 or 0.78% on a volume of 2.01 million shares.
Meanwhile, JBLU is currently trading at $6.94, down $0.24 or 3.34% on a volume of 2.0 million shares.
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