Delta profit tops expectations in 1st full quarter after bankruptcy
Oct 16, 2007, 7:05 am
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Jun 2002
Location: Kingdom of the Sun
Programs: DL GM/MM
Posts: 3,708
Delta profit tops expectations in 1st full quarter after bankruptcy
Delta kicked off the U.S. airline industry's third-quarter earnings season by reporting a net profit of $220 million (56 cents a share). The profit topped Wall Street expectations, with The Associated Press saying analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial had expected Delta to earn 42 cents a share. The July-through-September period was Delta's first full quarter since it exited bankruptcy protection in April. The Atlanta Journal Constitution (free registration) notes the quarter "includes part of the busy summer travel season, when airlines make most of their profits."
Associated Press article.
AJC article.
Oct 18, 2007, 11:23 am
#2
Join Date: Jul 2004
Programs: DL; AA; UA; CO; LHLX; NZ; QR; EK; BA
Posts: 7,407
I'm a little surprised this hasn't gotten much attention but DL's Q3 numbers are actually quite excellent, especially considering that Q3 isn't traditionally their best quarter either...
Operating Revenues actually increased a whopping 10% from $4.8 billion Q3 2006 to $5.2 billion in Q3 2007. As a comparison, AA's revenues for the same period rose 1.7% to $5.9 billion. Basically, DL's revenues are now 88% of AA, the largest carrier's revenues, compared to 81% a year ago.
Operating Margin (= Operating Income / Revenues) for the quarter was 8.7%. Of all the airlines that have reported so far, DL ranks #2 after WN:
WN 9.7%
DL 8.7%
CO 7.3%
AA 5.4%
And, even though these are absolute numbers, operating Income for the first 9 months of 2007 are actually over $1 billion (at $1.098 billion) vs $1.034 billion at AA, a larger airline...
Pre-tax income for the quarter was also at the higher end:
DL $363 million
CO $241 million
AA $175 million
And Delta Mainline CASM (cost per available seat mile) excluding fuel and special items is remarkably low compared to its legacy peers that have reported (must be the removal of those Sun Chips in domestic Y
)
DL 6.50 cents
CO 7.51 cents
AA 7.73 cents
During Q3, they actually paid down $1.0 billion worth of debt; even though cash position is now lower because of this, the balance sheet looks healthier and interest payments have dropped dramatically (from over $220 million to $132 million for the quarter)
Overall, looks like DL is shutting up many of the naysayers who had no faith that it could emerge as a profitable entity...I've also noticed that many Wall Street analysts who were initially quite apprehensive about DL when they first emerged from Ch.11 are now changing their tune quite a bit in their more recent notes....
Operating Revenues actually increased a whopping 10% from $4.8 billion Q3 2006 to $5.2 billion in Q3 2007. As a comparison, AA's revenues for the same period rose 1.7% to $5.9 billion. Basically, DL's revenues are now 88% of AA, the largest carrier's revenues, compared to 81% a year ago.
Operating Margin (= Operating Income / Revenues) for the quarter was 8.7%. Of all the airlines that have reported so far, DL ranks #2 after WN:
WN 9.7%
DL 8.7%
CO 7.3%
AA 5.4%
And, even though these are absolute numbers, operating Income for the first 9 months of 2007 are actually over $1 billion (at $1.098 billion) vs $1.034 billion at AA, a larger airline...
Pre-tax income for the quarter was also at the higher end:
DL $363 million
CO $241 million
AA $175 million
And Delta Mainline CASM (cost per available seat mile) excluding fuel and special items is remarkably low compared to its legacy peers that have reported (must be the removal of those Sun Chips in domestic Y
)DL 6.50 cents
CO 7.51 cents
AA 7.73 cents
During Q3, they actually paid down $1.0 billion worth of debt; even though cash position is now lower because of this, the balance sheet looks healthier and interest payments have dropped dramatically (from over $220 million to $132 million for the quarter)
Overall, looks like DL is shutting up many of the naysayers who had no faith that it could emerge as a profitable entity...I've also noticed that many Wall Street analysts who were initially quite apprehensive about DL when they first emerged from Ch.11 are now changing their tune quite a bit in their more recent notes....