Boston, MA 10/24/2013 (wallstreetpr) – Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL) has in two years now proven to be just the very profit machine it had long promised to be and for this, investors are excited. And this excitement, considering a lot of other recent strategies in the carrier’s cards, is just the beginning of things to come.
When DAL announced its Q3.13 income on Tuesday, it was all clear that Wall Street failed to capture DAL landing big. While the Street wanted adjusted EPS in the range of $0.90 and $1.36, DAL delivered a surprise of $1.41, once again beating the analysts. What this means is that this carrier is poised for record figures in profit for the F2013.
Essentially, it is important to understand the genesis of this strong Q3 performance so that one may know the heights that the airline is planning to fly investors’ wallets. For a very long time now, the company has been improving its unit revenue, lowering fuel cost and slowing down of non-fuel costs. Then in effect, unit revenues are soaring and what has been seen this far is just the tip of the iceberg as the airline company has just set itself for more record profits in 2014.
For the Q3, DAL saw its revenue grow by 4%. But to register this strong performance, one big hiccup for the company that it needed to overcome or nosedive was the weakening Japanese currency. Weak yen negatively impacted on the Japanese tourists using DAL flights to Hawaii and similar destination markets.
But even in the face of such challenges which continue to persist, DAL is not shy to issue even stronger guidance for the Q4. With continued growth of the unit revenue, the airline carrier expects to drive more profits in the coming quarter and the quarters to follow. Its engagement with Virgin Atlantic which takes effect from January 1 is expected to culminate in enhanced revenue for the carrier. The airline is also finishing its flat-bed seats for its international carriers early next year and this is yet another revenue boost for the company.
DAL continued its tight grip on the positive side of things, closing up $25.61 in Wednesday’s trading after gaining 0.47% in share value.
