In its Thursday briefing, American Airlines Group Inc. reported a decrease in profit for the fourth quarter, primarily due to an increase in operational costs despite revenues remaining relatively unchanged. However, it's notable that the airline's revenue and profit outperformed market predictions.
The profit for the fourth quarter dropped to $19 million, or $0.03 per share, down from $803 million or $1.14 per share in the same quarter of the previous year.
Once one-time items were excluded, the adjusted earnings were calculated to be $192 million, or $0.29 per share. This amount surpassed average analyst expectations from Thomson-Reuters, who anticipated $0.10 per share, typically excluding special items. The revenue for the quarter dropped slightly to $13.062 billion from the previous year's revenue of $13.189 billion, which still surpassed the consensus estimate of $13.02 billion.
American Airlines also reported a passenger load factor of 83.6% for the fourth quarter, in comparison to 83.9% in the previous year.
Moving into the future, the company predicts an adjusted loss per share between $0.15-$0.35 for the first quarter. This differs slightly from analyst expectations who anticipate a loss of $0.16 per share for the quarter.
As for the full year outlook, the adjusted EPS is expected to range between $2.25 and $3.25. The consensus estimate stands at $2.25 per share.
In the pre-market trading, American Airlines stocks have seen an increase of over 4%. The shares had closed at $13.93, down 0.50% on Wednesday. Over the past year, the stock has traded in the range of 10.86 - 19.08.
