Delta Air Lines earnings: ‘we’re getting ready for a strong summer’

Delta Air Lines Inc (NYSE: DAL) is trading down this morning after reporting earnings for is fiscal first quarter that came in slightly below the Street estimates.

Delta Air Lines issues strong guidance

On the plus side, though, the air carrier now expects record revenue in its current financial quarter.

Per-share earnings, it added, will fall between $2.0 and $2.25 in Q2 – well above $1.66 that analysts had forecast. On CNBC’s “Squawk Box”, CEO Ed Bastian said:

For the full year, the airline is calling for up to 20% annualised growth in revenue on $5 to $6 of EPS and more than $2.0 billion in free cash flow. Delta Air Lines stock has now returned to the price at which it stared the year.  

Delta Air Lines Q1 financial highlights

• Lost $363 million versus the year-ago $940 million
• Per-share loss also narrowed from $1.48 to 57 cents
• Adjusted EPS printed at 25 cents as per the press release
• Revenue climbed 36% year-on-year to $12.76 billion
• Consensus was 29 cents EPS on $11.98 billion revenue

Delta Air Lines reported a 3.8% decline in its cargo and other revenue but its passenger revenue went up a whopping 50.7% in the recently concluded quarter. CEO Bastian added:

Other notable figures in Delta Air Lines Q1 results

Other notable figures in the earnings report include an 18.4% increase in capacity and 28.4% increase in traffic. Load factor jumped from 75% to 81% but still came in shy of 83.2% expected. According to the Chief Executive:

Wall Street currently has a consensus “buy” rating on this airline stock.