Delta Airlines Inc. reported a top- and bottom-line beat with its fourth-quarter results Friday, although the company’s stock was falling 7.8% Friday after Delta delivered lowered earnings guidance.
Net income was $2.04 billion, or $3.16 a share, compared with $828 million, or $1.29 a share, in the year-ago period. Adjusted earnings per share, which excludes nonrecurring items, came in at $1.28, compared with $1.48 in the same period last year, and beat the FactSet consensus of $1.16.
Delta’s
DAL,
revenue was $14.2 billion, a 6% increase from the prior year’s quarter. Adjusted revenue was $13.7 billion, an 11% increase on the same period last year, beating expectations. Analysts surveyed by FactSet were looking for revenue of $13.6 billion.
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For 2024, Delta expects earnings of $6 to $7 a share, below the target of over $7 a share the company outlined at an investor day in December 2022. Delta also expects 2024 free cash flow of $3 billion to $4 billion, an improvement of up to $2 billion over 2023.
“In 2024, demand for air travel remains strong and our customer base is in a healthy financial position with travel a top priority,” said Ed Bastian, the Delta CEO, in a statement. Corporate travel also continues to improve, Bastian said, during a conference call to discuss the results.
Domestic passenger revenue was $8.8 billion, a 7% increase from the year-ago period. International revenue climbed 25%, boosted by double-digit revenue and capacity growth in the company’s Transatlantic, Pacific and Latin entities.
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Load factor was 84%, down from from 85% in the prior year’s quarter and below the FactSet consensus of 84.8%. Traffic rose 14% to 57.7 billion revenue passenger miles and capacity rose 15% to 68.5 billion available seat miles.
Delta’s shares have risen 2.1% in the last 52 weeks, compared with the S&P 500 index’s
SPX
gain of 19.6%.
