JetBlue's stock slips as a somewhat downbeat outlook offset a Q4 earnings beat

MW JetBlue's stock slips as a somewhat downbeat outlook offset a Q4 earnings beat

By Tomi Kilgore

Air carrier's executives didn't provide an update of Spirit Airlines merger deal

Shares of JetBlue Airways Corp. declined Tuesday, as the air carrier's somewhat downbeat first-quarter revenue outlook overshadowed fourth-quarter results that beat forecasts amid continued strong demand during peak periods.

What may have also disappointed investors, JetBlue didn't provide any specific updates on its deal to acquire Spirit Airlines Inc. $(SAVE.AU)$ in the earnings release. The company has a conference call with analysts scheduled for 10 a.m. Eastern.

Last week, JetBlue had warned that it may terminate the merger deal as certain closing conditions "may not be satisfied." That followed a court ruling on Jan. 18 that blocked the airlines' merger, which the carriers appealed.

JetBlue's stock $(JBLU)$ fell 1.5% in premarket trading.

"2024 is an important year of change for JetBlue and we are taking aggressive action, including launching $300 million of revenue initiatives, to return to profitability and deliver value for our shareholders," said Chief Operating Officer Joanna Geraghty, who has been tapped to succeed Robin Hayes as chief executive officer on Feb. 12.

The company swung to a net loss of $104 million, or 31 cents a share, from net income of $24 million, or 7 cents as share, in the same period a year ago.

Excluding nonrecurring items, such as costs associated with the attempt to merge with Spirit Airlines and union contract costs, the adjusted per-share loss of 19 cents beat the FactSet loss consensus of 27 cents.

Revenue fell 3.7% to $2.33 billion, but was above the FactSet consensus of $2.29 billion.

Load factor was down 3.1 percentage points to 80.1%, to miss expectations of 81.6%, as seat supply increased 3.3% to 17.01 billion available seat miles while traffic decreased 0.5% to 13.63 billion revenue passenger miles.

For the first quarter, the company expects first-quarter revenue to decline 5% to 9% from a year ago. Meanwhile, the current FactSet revenue consensus of $2.20 billion implies a 5.5% drop.

"As we look ahead in 2024, we are seeing positive momentum in our revenue growth," Geraghty said. "Demand during peak periods remains strong, and we continue to manage our capacity during off-peak periods to reflect evolving demand trends."

The stock has soared 31% over the past three months through Monday, while the U.S. Global Jets ETF JETS has climbed 27.7% and the S&P 500 has advanced 18.3%.

-Tomi Kilgore

This content was created by MarketWatch, which is operated by Dow Jones & Co. MarketWatch is published independently from Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal.

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

January 30, 2024 07:46 ET (12:46 GMT)

Copyright (c) 2024 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.