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Hawaiian Holdings Up on Improved November Traffic, Q4 View

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Hawaiian Holdings, Inc. ((HA - Free Report) ) saw a 1.27% increase in its stock price at close of business on Dec 5. The stock price appreciation was driven by the company’s impressive traffic results, which were released earlier in the day along with improved guidance for the fourth quarter.

We note that the stock has been performing well over the past few months and has comfortably outperformed the Zacks categorized Transportation-Airline industry over the last six months. The stock has gained over 25.33% compared with the industry, which has advanced just 16.14% over the same period.

Hawaiian Airlines, Inc. – a subsidiary of Hawaiian Holdings, Inc. – posted a significant rise in air traffic in the month of November. Traffic – measured in revenue passenger miles (RPMs) – came in at 1.25 billion, up 9% from 1.15 billion recorded a year ago. On a year-over-year basis, consolidated capacity

(or available seat miles/ASMs) inched up 2.9% to 1.46 billion. Moreover, load factor or percentage of seats filled by passengers increased to 85.8% from 81% in Nov 2015.

In the first eleven months of 2016, Hawaiian Airlines witnessed 7.1% rise in RPMs to 14.16 billion and 3.6% growth in ASMs to 16.80 billion, both on a year-over-year basis. Load factor increased by 280 basis points year over year to 84.3%. Moreover, passenger count for Nov 2016 and the first eleven months of 2016 grew 2.9% and 3.6%, respectively.

Hawaiian Airlines faces tough competition from peers such as JetBlue Airways Co. (JBLU - Free Report) , Southwest Airlines Co. (LUV - Free Report) and SkyWest Inc. (SKYW - Free Report) .

Fourth-Quarter Guidance

Hawaiian Airlines revised its guidance for the fourth quarter of 2016. The company now expects Operating Revenue per ASM to increase in the range of 3% to 6% from fourth quarter of 2015. Earlier, the company had anticipated an increase of 0.5% to 3.5%. Fuel cost per gallon is now expected to be in the range of $1.45–$1.55 instead of $1.50–$1.60 projected earlier.

Zacks Rank

Hawaiian Airlines currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

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