Back to top

Image: Bigstock

Airline Stock Roundup: GOL & ALGT Report Q1 Loss Amid Coronavirus Woes

Read MoreHide Full Article

In the past week, Gol Linhas Aereas Inteligentes and Allegiant Travel Company (ALGT - Free Report) incurred losses for first-quarter 2021. Results were hurt by the huge plummet in passenger revenues. Also, air-travel remained weak on a year-over-year basis. Further, heavyweights like American Airlines (AAL - Free Report) and Southwest Airlines (LUV - Free Report) reported first-quarter loss due to dwindling passenger revenues as mentioned in the previous week’s write up.

Additionally, SkyWest (SKYW - Free Report) underperformed estimates in the March quarter despite reporting earnings, unlike the above two carriers. SkyWest’s results were affected by a significant cut in the number of scheduled flights as a result of the pandemic.

Recap of the Past Week’s Most Important Stories

1. SkyWest, currently carrying  a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold), reported first-quarter 2021 earnings of 71 cents per share, missing the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 89 cents. The bottom line, however, jumped 20.3% year over year owing to significant reduction in operating expenses. Meanwhile, quarterly revenues of $534.6 million fell shy of the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $539 million.

You can see  the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

2. Allegiant incurred first-quarter 2021 loss (excluding $4 from non-recurring items) of $3.58 per share, wider than the Zacks Consensus Estimate of a loss of $3.17. Results were hurt by coronavirus-induced weakness in air-travel demand. However, sentiments were bullish in the year-ago quarter when the company delivered earnings of $2.05 per share.

Moreover, operating revenues of $279.1 million plunged 31.8% year over year and also missed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $284.3 million. This downside was due to 32.3% fall in passenger revenues. However, owing to improving air-travel demand in the United States, the carrier expects capacity (measured in available seat miles or ASMs) in second-quarter 2021 to expand from the number reported in second-quarter 2019. For the second quarter, ASM (for scheduled service as well as total system) is expected to increase between 2% and 6% from the second-quarter 2019 reported figures.

3. Gol Linhas incurred a loss (excluding $1.63 from non-recurring items) of 89 cents per share in the first quarter of 2021, wider than the Zacks Consensus Estimate of a loss of 74 cents. However, in the year-ago period, the company had reported earnings of 20 cents.

Net operating revenues of $286.8 million missed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $300.9 million. Moreover, the top line plunged approximately 60% year over year with passenger revenues (accounting for 90.3% of total revenues) plummeting 51.8% year over year due to suppressed air-travel demand amid coronavirus concerns. Cargo and other revenues also declined 26.7%.

4. Reflecting better air-travel demand, Ryanair Holdings’ (RYAAY - Free Report) April traffic grew 24% year over year to 1 million guests. On a rolling-annual basis, total traffic at Ryanair dived 79% to 28.5 million. The carrier’s load factor (% of seats filled by passengers) in the month was 67%.

5. Delta Air Lines (DAL - Free Report) became the first U.S. airline to resume services to Iceland. The carrier re-started operating nonstop flights from New York-JFK to Iceland’s capital Reykjavik. Delta is flying only vaccinated tourists to Iceland. The airline also aims to introduce a flight from Boston on May 20. Moreover, resumption of nonstop Minneapolis flights are expected May 27 onward.

Performance

The following table shows the price movement of major airline players over the past week and during the last 6 months.

The table above shows that all airline stocks, barring Hawaiian Holdings (HA - Free Report) , traded in the red in the past week, inducing the NYSE ARCA Airline Index dip 1.8% to $103.78. Over the course of the past six months, the NYSE ARCA Airline Index has appreciated 44.6%.

What's Next in the Airline Space?

With the earnings season being over, stay tuned for usual news updates in the space.

Zacks Top 10 Stocks for 2021

In addition to the stocks discussed above, would you like to know about our 10 best buy-and-hold tickers for the entirety of 2021?

Last year's 2020Zacks Top 10 Stocks portfolio returned gains as high as +386.8%. Now a brand-new portfolio has been handpicked from over 4,000 companies covered by the Zacks Rank. Don’t miss your chance to get in on these long-term buys.

AccessZacks Top 10 Stocks for 2021 today >>

Published in