Shares of Delta Air Lines Inc. $(DAL)$ surged 4.6% toward a three-year high in premarket trading Wednesday, after the air carrier reported first-quarter profit that rose above expectations, as record revenue was fueled by accelerating business travel. Delta swung to net income of $37 million, or 6 cents a share, from a net loss of $363 million, or 57 cents a share, in the same period a year ago. Excluding nonrecurring items, adjusted earnings per share rose to 45 cents from 25 cents, and beat the FactSet consensus of 36 cents. Revenue grew 7.8% to $13.75 billion, well above the FactSet consensus of $12.52 billion, as passenger revenue increased 6.9% to $11.13 billion amid a 14% jump in corporate sales. Load factor improved to 83% from 81% and topped expectations of 81.7%, as traffic increased 9% to 54.21 billion revenue passenger miles and capacity was up 7% to 65.54 billion available seat miles. Looking ahead, the company expects second-quarter EPS of $2.20 to $2.50, surrounding the FactSet consensus of $2.22. For full-year 2024, Delta reiterated its EPS guidance range $6 to $7. The stock has tacked on climbed 17.6 year to date through Tuesday, while the U.S. Global Jets ETF $(JETS.UK)$ has gained 7.4% and the S&P 500 has advanced 9.2%.
-Tomi Kilgore
For more from MarketWatch: http://www.marketwatch.com/newsviewer
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
April 10, 2024 06:39 ET (10:39 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2024 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
Comments