The past week was dominated by earnings data with airline heavyweights like Southwest Airlines LUV , American Airlines Group AAL , Spirit Airlines SAVE and Alaska Air Group ALK reporting their respective second-quarter 2017 respective earnings numbers. While there was an improvement on the unit revenue front, higher labor costs continued to hurt the bottom line.
On the non-earnings front, Delta Air Lines DAL strengthened its partnership with Air France by virtue of a 10% equity investment in the latter, as part of its expansion initiatives. On the price front, the NYSE ARCA Airline Index fell 2.63% to $111.46 over the past week.
Recap of the Past Week’s Most Important Stories
1. Alaska Air Group that acquired Virgin America last December, performed well in the second quarter of 2017. The carrier’s earnings of $2.51 per share beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate by a penny. Moreover, the bottom line expanded 18.4% on a year-over-year basis. Results were aided by higher revenues.
Revenues came in at $2,102 million, just ahead of the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $2,096.3 million. The top line grew 41% on a year-over-year basis (read more: Alaska Air Group Tops Q2 Earnings, Revenue Estimates ).
2. Southwest Airlines reported better-than-expected earnings and revenues in the second quarter of 2017. The carrier’s earnings per share (on an adjusted basis) of $1.24 beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $1.20. Earnings improved 4.20% on a year-over-year basis.
Operating revenues of $5,744 million were marginally above the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $5733.2 million. Revenues also improved 6.69% year over year. Passenger revenues accounted for the bulk of the top line (read more: Southwest Airlines Beats on Earnings & Revenues in Q2 ).
3 American Airlines Group Inc.’s second-quarter 2017 earnings (adjusted) of $1.92 per share surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 5 cents. Moreover, quarterly earnings improved 8.47% on a year-over-year basis…
