| From: Sam | 3/29/2021 8:59:15 AM | | | | | | | American Airlines Expects To Reactive Most Aircraft In Q2 As Bookings Start To Pick Up -- MarketWatch | |
Dow Jones Newswires March 29, 2021 07:47:00 AM ET
American Airlines Group Inc. shares (AAL) jumped 1.3% in premarket trade Monday, after the carrier offered an update on capacity and bookings and said it expects to reactivate most of its aircraft in the second quarter as demand picks up. The carrier said it expects first-quarter system capacity, or total available seat miles, to be down about 40% to 45% from the first quarter of 2019, compared with earlier guidance of down 45%. The company said it experienced weakness in bookings in the quarter, which it said was due to a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention order to require a negative COVID-19 test for entry into the U.S. "However, as infection and hospitalization rates have materially declined and vaccine distribution has increased during the quarter, the Company has experienced recent strength in domestic and short-haul international bookings," the company said in a regulatory filing. As of March 26, the carrier's seven-day moving average of net bookings is about 90% of the level seen in 2019, with a domestic load factor of about 80%. The airline is expecting the strong bookings to continue through the end of the first quarter and into the second, but cautioned that visibility remains limited. Shares have gained 45% in the year to date, while the U.S. Global JETS ETF (JETS) has gained 19% and the S&P 500 has gained 6%.
-Ciara Linnane
For more from MarketWatch: marketwatch.com |
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| From: Glenn Petersen | 4/1/2021 8:09:28 AM | | | | | | Frontier Airlines raises $570 million in IPO, starts trading today
PUBLISHED THU, APR 1 20217:44 AM EDT
Leslie Josephs @LESLIEJOSEPHS
CNBC.com
KEY POINTS
-- Frontier Airlines’ shares priced at $19 at the low end of the expected range.
-- The budget carrier is the latest U.S. carrier to go public.Trading is expected to begin next week.
Frontier Airlines Airbus A320 takes off from Los Angeles international Airport on August 27, 2020 in Los Angeles, California.
AaronP | Bauer-Griffin | GC Images | Getty Images
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Frontier Airlines raised $570 million in an initial public offering, the latest U.S. carrier to take that route as the industry starts to see signs of a recovery, the company said late Wednesday.
The Denver-based budget carrier sold 30 that priced at $19 apiece, the low end of the target range, which gave it a valuation of about $4 billion.
Frontier starts trading Thursday under the ticker ULCC, the initials of the ultra-low-cost carrier, on Nasdaq Global Select Market.
Story Link |
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| From: Moonray | 4/5/2021 9:45:29 AM | | | | | | Delta Air Lines cancels 100 flights due to staff shortages
Delta Air Lines (NYSE: DAL) has canceled 100 flights due to staff shortages.
It also decided to re-open the middle seat earlier than anticipated to carry
more passengers to destinations.Delta announced Wednesday that it would
restart selling middle seats on May 1. This announcement will end the social
distance policy that was put into place more than a year ago.
Delta Air Lines closed last week +2.45% and is +1.70% in the pre-market.
In the United States, air travel is still recovering since the beginning of the
global pandemic. Although air travel numbers remain low, they have seen
a consistent uptick in volume. In the last twenty days, over 1 million travelers
have gone through U.S. airports each day. Additionally, the TSA announced
that yesterday, they screened over 1.5 million people nationwide on Easter
Sunday.Lisa Farbstein, a spokesperson for the TSA said, “TSA screened
1,543,474 people nationwide yesterday, Sunday, April 4. On the same day
in 2020, TSA screened 122,029 and in 2019, TSA screened 2,462,929 people.
Volume is up significantly from 2020, but there’s still a long way to go to return
to pre-pandemic levels.”With the vaccine rollout continuing to gain ground,
more and more air travel should be set to pick up in a re-opening and back
to normal economy.
The U.S. Global Jets ETF (NYSEARCA: JETS), which tracks the airline industry,
has been gaining ground month after month since its collapse back in February
of 2020.JETS is +106.49% over the past year and is currently +1.63% in the
pre-market. Below is a chart of the ETF since the beginning of 2020.
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| From: Sam | 4/6/2021 11:20:21 AM | | | | | | Southwest Airlines Price Target Raised to $80.00/Share From $59.00 by Morgan Stanley
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| From: Sam | 4/7/2021 8:46:27 AM | | | | | | Delta Air Price Target Raised to $72.00/Share From $55.00 by Morgan Stanley
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| From: Sam | 4/13/2021 1:03:31 PM | | | | | | | Airline Stocks May Be Hitting an Air Pocket -- Barrons.com |
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| Dow Jones Newswires April 13, 2021 11:12:00 AM ET
Airline stocks may be hitting an air pocket.
American Airlines Group (ticker: AAL) issued preliminary first-quarter results on Tuesday morning that missed Wall Street forecasts, a day after United Airlines Holdings (UAL) issued tepid guidance for its first-quarter results.
American said in a filing that it expects revenue to be down 62% versus the first quarter of 2019, in the middle of its prior guidance of a 60%-65% decline. The carrier said it expects to post an adjusted loss of $4.29 to $4.41 a share, versus consensus estimates of a loss of $3.93.
On the brighter side, American said its daily operating losses in the quarter would be $27 million, down from a prior estimate of $30 million. The carrier said it would have turned cash-flow positive in March if not for debt and severance payments.
The company is expected to report first-quarter results on April 22.
The results look "worse than expected," wrote Citigroup analyst Stephen Trent, who maintained a Sell rating on the stock and a $21 price target.
Shares of American were down 2.8% in recent trading to around $22. The NYSE Arca Airline Index was off 1.7%. The U.S. Global Jets exchange-traded fund (JETS) was down 1.2%.
The sector could also be under pressure due to fears that Covid-19 vaccination rollouts might be slowing. That's becoming more likely now that health concerns have emerged about Johnson & Johnson's (JNJ) shot, adding to delays in output. Health officials are also warning of sharp increases in new Covid cases in some parts of the country, which appear unrelated to vaccination levels.
The warnings from American and United may be a sign that investors need to temper their expectations for more gains in the stocks. The NYSE Arca Airline index has rallied 25% this year and is up 75% in the last six months, pushing many of the stocks to their prepandemic highs and sending multiples up sharply.
While carriers have plenty of cash and liquidity to survive another downturn, many have strained their balance sheets and issued more equity to raise capital, pushing out an eventual recovery in earnings per share.
None illustrate that more than American. Its fully diluted share count hit 572,000 at the end of 2020, up 31% from the end of 2019. The airline now has an estimated $33.5 billion in net debt, up from $24 billion in 2019.
Yet while revenue is rebounding, it isn't expected to get back to prepandemic levels until 2024, according to consensus estimates. And meaningful profits aren't expected until 2023, when American is forecast to earn $2.39 a share.
Nonetheless, betting against American's stock on valuation concerns or fundamentals hasn't been a winning strategy. The stock has beaten the sector average with a 78% return over the past six months, and it has nearly doubled the sector's return in the past three months, gaining 40% versus 24% for the index.
Some analysts argue that other stocks look better positioned heading into the quarter, though.
UBS'sMyles Walton wrote on Tuesday that he's recommending shares of Alaska Air Group (ALK) as his top pick in the run-up to earnings. The company is making progress toward cash profitability, he notes, and may have more upside in filling available seats than other carriers.
Raymond James' Savanthi Syth reiterated a Strong Buy on shares of Allegiant Travel (ALGT) and raised her target to $290 on Monday. The company is in a "unique position" to generate higher profitability in 2022 than in 2019 due to strong demand trends in its core leisure market, she argues. Allegiant also made it through pandemic without diluting shareholders or stressing its balance sheet, which looks quite strong, she adds.
Alaska Air shares were down 2.5%, at $69.55, in recent trading. Allegiant shares were down 2.3%, at $243.64.
Write to Daren Fonda at daren.fonda@barrons.com |
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| From: Sam | 4/14/2021 8:12:46 AM | | | | | | Another timely upgrade and PT raise from JPM.
Southwest Airlines Price Target Raised to $66.00/Share From $44.00 by JP Morgan
Southwest Airlines Raised to Neutral From Underweight by JP Morgan
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| To: Sam who wrote (1568) | 4/15/2021 10:20:48 AM | | From: Moonray | | | | Delta posts nearly $1.2 billion quarterly loss, expects to break even in June as bookings improve
By Leslie Josephs - APR 15 20219:58 AM EDT
* Delta says domestic leisure bookings have recovered to 85% of 2019 levels.
* The airline expects to break even in June but still expects to post a pretax loss of up to $1.5 billion in the second quarter.
* Delta’s cash burn turned positive in March, generating $4 million a day.
Delta Air Lines on Thursday reported another quarterly loss but said it will likely break even in June as travel demand rebounds from a deep pandemic slump.
Delta and its competitors continue to lose money but have grown upbeat about an improvement in bookings as more travelers are vaccinated, travel restrictions lift and more attractions reopen. The airline said domestic leisure bookings recovered to about 85% of 2019 levels, though international and business travel remain depressed.
The Atlanta-based carrier posted a net loss of $1.18 billion on $4.15 billion in revenue for the first quarter, topping analyst estimates for sales of $3.91 billion. Revenue was down 60% compared with the $10.47 billion Delta generated in the first quarter of 2019. On an adjusted basis, Delta posted a loss of $3.55 a share compared with a forecast of $3.17 per share.
Delta’s shares were down more than 2% in morning trading.
Bookings in March doubled f rom January, CEO Ed Bastian told CNBC’s ? Squawk on the Street.” However, he added that corporate travel demand is just 20% of the norm for this time of year.
“When I look at the first quarter, what’s been clear to us is that our business has made a turn,” Bastian said. “We’ve seen a huge surge in bookings just over the last couple of months.”
Bastian said in an earnings release the company expects “positive cash generation for the June quarter and see a path to return to profitability in the September quarter as the demand recovery progresses.”
Here’s how Delta performed in the first quarter compared with what Wall Street expected, based on average estimates compiled by Refinitiv:
Adjusted results per share: a loss of $3.55 versus an expected loss of $3.17 a share
Total revenue: $4.15 billion versus expected $3.91 billion in revenue
Delta forecast its second-quarter revenue to be 50% to 55% lower than the same period of 2019 on scheduled capacity that’s a third lower than two years ago. Its expenses, stripping out the cost of fuel, will be up 6% to 9% this quarter, it said.
The carrier is the last U.S. airline to block middle seats, a practice that began earlier in the pandemic to help customers feel more comfortable flying. Next month, Delta will abandon that practice.
A Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study published Wednesday said that laboratory modeling that physically distancing passengers on board could reduce exposure to the virus that causes Covid-19 by up to 57%. The study didn’t account for facemasks, which are federally required on flights.
Bastian defended the decision to sell all seats on Delta’s planes and dismissed the study’s conclusions because researchers didn’t take pandemic safety protocols into effect.
“Our experts tell us that with vaccination rates where they’re at and demand being as strong as it is it’s absolutely safe to sit in that middle seat,” he said.
The carrier’s executives will hold a call with analysts to discuss results at 10 a.m. ET.
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| To: OldAIMGuy who wrote (1560) | 4/15/2021 10:38:49 AM | | From: Moonray | | | | Blocking middle seats on planes reduces risk
of COVID-19 transmission, CDC study says
Empty middle seats have been a sticking point for some on
commercial flights since the pandemic began. But little by
little, major airlines have unblocked the middle seat to allow
more travelers to fly.
Now, new data from the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention suggests this might not be the safest route. The
data was based on laboratory modeling of SARS-CoV-2
(the virus that causes COVID-19) on single-aisle and twin-
aisle planes. It found that leaving the middle seat vacant
reduces the risk of contracting COVID-19 by 23 percent
to 57 percent when compared with having a full plane.
For a single passenger in the same row and two seats away
from someone infected with COVID-19, the risk of exposure
to the virus was reduced by 23 percent. However, blocking
the middle seat reduces the risk to other passengers by up to
57 percent when several people aboard the aircraft are infected.
More at: yahoo.com
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