JetBlue Airways Corporation (JBLU) topped market estimates on revenue and earnings for the fourth quarter of 2018, sending shares up 3.5% during premarket hours on Thursday.
Total operating revenues grew 12% to $1.97 billion from the year-ago period. Reported net income dropped 74.1% to $169 million or $0.55 per share compared to the prior-year quarter. Last year’s fourth quarter earnings results included a one-time tax benefit. Adjusted EPS grew to $0.50 from $0.32 last year, helped by strong non-fuel cost control and revenue growth.
During the quarter, revenue per available seat mile (RASM) grew 2.4% year-over-year, driven by strong close-in demand trends across the network. RASM ended above the midpoint of the company’s guidance range of 1-4%, excluding a 0.3 point impact from strong completion factor.
CASM, ex-fuel dropped 3.6%, below the low-end of the guidance range of down 3.5% to down 1.5%. This drop includes a benefit of around 0.3 points from improved completion factor. Load factor dropped by 0.6 points to 82.5% year-over-year.
Also see: JetBlue Q4 2018 Earnings Conference Call Transcript
The realized fuel price in the fourth quarter was $2.24 per gallon, an increase of 18.5% from $1.89 in the prior-year quarter. JetBlue entered into forward fuel derivative contracts to hedge around 7% of its fuel consumption for the first half of 2019. The company currently expects the average price per gallon of fuel to be $2.01 in the first quarter of 2019.
Earnings Preview: Higher fuel costs might impact JetBlue’s Q4 earnings
For the first quarter of 2019, capacity is expected to increase between 7.5% and 9.5% year-over-year. RASM growth is expected to range between down 2% and plus 1%. CASM, ex-fuel, is expected to grow 1.5% to 3.5%.
For full-year 2019, capacity is expected to grow 5-7%. The company expects CASM, ex-fuel, to be between flat and 2% on a year-over-year basis. Looking ahead, JetBlue expressed confidence in its ability to achieve its EPS target of $2.50 to $3.00 in 2020.
Get access to timely and accurate verbatim transcripts that are published within hours of the event.
Most Popular
Does Unity Software (U) stock has more room to run?
Last month, the IPO market was in a full swing. IPOs of Snowflake (NYSE: SNOW) and JFROG (NASDAQ: FROG) had an impressive opening day in September, the former creating a
PepsiCo (PEP): Steady snacking habits amid pandemic drive strong quarter for beverage giant
PepsiCo Inc. (NASDAQ: PEP) beat market expectations on both revenue and earnings for the third quarter of 2020. The company saw the momentum continue in its snacks business while the
Does the virus-driven boom make Electronic Arts (EA) a good investment?
With more and more people turning to virtual entertainment sources, amid the virus-related movement restrictions, video game publishers like Electronic Arts (NASDAQ: EA) are witnessing unusually high demand. Not surprisingly,
