** Shares of Spirit Airlines up ~7% at $4.46 in early trading
** SAVE largely sticks to its Q1 margin forecast, even as it flags a delay in recognition of a big portion of credits that were set to help margins in Q1
** Says better-than-expected operational efficiencies drove reduced labor costs, while lower airport rent expenses also helped
** Sees Q1 adjusted operating margin to be down 14.5% to 13.5%, compared to prior guidance of down 15% to 12%
** Firm says it had initially expected to recognize ~$38 mln of credits in Q1 as part of a compensation for quality issues with engines made by supplier Pratt & Whitney
** Says it now expects to recognize just about $1.6 mln of credits in Q1 due to a change in accounting
** Raymond James analyst Savanthi Syth says excluding impact of compensation delay, "Spirit's 1Q24 results came in comfortably ahead of our and consensus forecasts"
** YTD, stock down ~71%
(Reporting by Deborah Sophia in Bengaluru)
((DeborahMary.Sophia@thomsonreuters.com))
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