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Zacks Industry Outlook Highlights: Delta Air Lines, United Continental Holdings, American Airlines Group and JetBlue Airways
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For Immediate Release
Chicago, IL – April 20, 2018 – Today, Zacks Equity Research discusses the Industry: Airlines, Part 1, including Delta Air Lines, Inc. (DAL - Free Report) , United Continental Holdings, Inc. (UAL - Free Report) , American Airlines Group Inc. (AAL - Free Report) and JetBlue Airways Corp. (JBLU - Free Report) .
Airline stocks are unlikely to grab major headlines in the first-quarter 2018 reporting cycle, which will see reports from many sector participants in the coming days. High fuel costs are likely to limit bottom-line growth in the reporting cycle. Moreover, multiple flight cancellations due to foul weather is also likely to weigh on results.
In fact, high fuel costs have hurt the results of the two carriers — Delta Air Lines, Inc. and United Continental Holdings, Inc. — who have reported thus far. For example, fuel costs increased approximately 20% at Delta. Moreover, the winter storms hurt results to the tune of $44 million at this Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) Atlanta, GA-based carrier. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
In fact, oil prices have been on an uptrend lately and were up approximately 8% in the January-March period. We note that high oil prices do not bode well for companies in the airline space as fuel costs account for a significant chunk of their expenditures.
Given the inversely proportional relation between oil prices and airline stocks, this increase in crude prices is expected to hurt results for the carriers who are still to report their first-quarter numbers.
In fact, fuel prices are likely to be on uptrend this year. The International Air Transport Association (“IATA”) projects that jet fuel prices will escalate to around 12.5% to $73.8 per barrel in 2018. The fuel bill is likely to account for 20.5% of total costs in 2018 (18.8% in 2017). Apart from high fuel costs, expenses on the labor front and capacity-related woes represent further challenges for sector participants.
Zacks Industry Rank Supports Ongoing Struggles
The Zacks Industry Rank #177 (of 250 plus groups) carried by the Zacks Airline Industry highlights the fact that airlines are certainly not in favor, as far as investors are concerned. This unfavorable rank places the companies within the bottom 31% slot of the Zacks industries.
We classify our entire 250-plus industries into two groups: the top half (i.e. industries with the best average Zacks Rank) and the bottom half (industries with the worst average Zacks Rank).
Using a week’s rebalance, the top half beat the bottom half by a factor of more than 2 to 1 over the last decade.
Despite the above-mentioned headwinds, there are some factors that are favorable for sector participants. The unit revenue scenario is steadily improving, which is a huge positive for the sector. Riding on the improved scenario, the likes of American Airlines Group Inc. and JetBlue Airways Corp. have issued bullish unit revenue views for the first quarter.
What is more encouraging is the fact that the bright scenario with respect to this key metric is unlikely to fade soon. For example, Delta expects total unit revenues, excluding refinery sales, to increase in the 3-5% range in the second quarter of 2018. Furthermore, rising fuel costs might lead to a rise in ticket prices and boost revenues.
Strong demand for air travel also bodes well the sector. For example, Airlines for America (‘A4A’) — a premier trade organization — for U.S. carriers unveiled an upbeat forecast for the current spring season. Per the projection, airline companies are expected to profit considerably this spring (Mar 1-Apr 30) as travel demand is anticipated to increase 4% year over year.
Moreover, the new tax law (Tax Cuts and Jobs Act) is a positive for airlines and should boost profits of the participants of this key sector. Apart from boosting results, the new law should see an uptick in shareholder-friendly activities (dividends/buybacks) in the space.
Zacks Investment Research is under common control with affiliated entities (including a broker-dealer and an investment adviser), which may engage in transactions involving the foregoing securities for the clients of such affiliates.
Past performance is no guarantee of future results. Inherent in any investment is the potential for loss. This material is being provided for informational purposes only and nothing herein constitutes investment, legal, accounting or tax advice, or a recommendation to buy, sell or hold a security. No recommendation or advice is being given as to whether any investment is suitable for a particular investor. It should not be assumed that any investments in securities, companies, sectors or markets identified and described were or will be profitable. All information is current as of the date of herein and is subject to change without notice. Any views or opinions expressed may not reflect those of the firm as a whole. Zacks Investment Research does not engage in investment banking, market making or asset management activities of any securities. These returns are from hypothetical portfolios consisting of stocks with Zacks Rank = 1 that were rebalanced monthly with zero transaction costs. These are not the returns of actual portfolios of stocks. The S&P 500 is an unmanaged index. Visit https://www.zacks.com/performance for information about the performance numbers displayed in this press release.
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Zacks Industry Outlook Highlights: Delta Air Lines, United Continental Holdings, American Airlines Group and JetBlue Airways
For Immediate Release
Chicago, IL – April 20, 2018 – Today, Zacks Equity Research discusses the Industry: Airlines, Part 1, including Delta Air Lines, Inc. (DAL - Free Report) , United Continental Holdings, Inc. (UAL - Free Report) , American Airlines Group Inc. (AAL - Free Report) and JetBlue Airways Corp. (JBLU - Free Report) .
Industry: Airlines, Part 1
Link: https://www.zacks.com/commentary/158758/airline-industry-outlook---april-2018
Airline stocks are unlikely to grab major headlines in the first-quarter 2018 reporting cycle, which will see reports from many sector participants in the coming days. High fuel costs are likely to limit bottom-line growth in the reporting cycle. Moreover, multiple flight cancellations due to foul weather is also likely to weigh on results.
In fact, high fuel costs have hurt the results of the two carriers — Delta Air Lines, Inc. and United Continental Holdings, Inc. — who have reported thus far. For example, fuel costs increased approximately 20% at Delta. Moreover, the winter storms hurt results to the tune of $44 million at this Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) Atlanta, GA-based carrier. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
In fact, oil prices have been on an uptrend lately and were up approximately 8% in the January-March period. We note that high oil prices do not bode well for companies in the airline space as fuel costs account for a significant chunk of their expenditures.
Given the inversely proportional relation between oil prices and airline stocks, this increase in crude prices is expected to hurt results for the carriers who are still to report their first-quarter numbers.
In fact, fuel prices are likely to be on uptrend this year. The International Air Transport Association (“IATA”) projects that jet fuel prices will escalate to around 12.5% to $73.8 per barrel in 2018. The fuel bill is likely to account for 20.5% of total costs in 2018 (18.8% in 2017). Apart from high fuel costs, expenses on the labor front and capacity-related woes represent further challenges for sector participants.
Zacks Industry Rank Supports Ongoing Struggles
The Zacks Industry Rank #177 (of 250 plus groups) carried by the Zacks Airline Industry highlights the fact that airlines are certainly not in favor, as far as investors are concerned. This unfavorable rank places the companies within the bottom 31% slot of the Zacks industries.
We classify our entire 250-plus industries into two groups: the top half (i.e. industries with the best average Zacks Rank) and the bottom half (industries with the worst average Zacks Rank).
Using a week’s rebalance, the top half beat the bottom half by a factor of more than 2 to 1 over the last decade.
Click here to know more: About Zacks Industry Rank
Not All Brickbats, Some Roses Too
Despite the above-mentioned headwinds, there are some factors that are favorable for sector participants. The unit revenue scenario is steadily improving, which is a huge positive for the sector. Riding on the improved scenario, the likes of American Airlines Group Inc. and JetBlue Airways Corp. have issued bullish unit revenue views for the first quarter.
What is more encouraging is the fact that the bright scenario with respect to this key metric is unlikely to fade soon. For example, Delta expects total unit revenues, excluding refinery sales, to increase in the 3-5% range in the second quarter of 2018. Furthermore, rising fuel costs might lead to a rise in ticket prices and boost revenues.
Strong demand for air travel also bodes well the sector. For example, Airlines for America (‘A4A’) — a premier trade organization — for U.S. carriers unveiled an upbeat forecast for the current spring season. Per the projection, airline companies are expected to profit considerably this spring (Mar 1-Apr 30) as travel demand is anticipated to increase 4% year over year.
Moreover, the new tax law (Tax Cuts and Jobs Act) is a positive for airlines and should boost profits of the participants of this key sector. Apart from boosting results, the new law should see an uptick in shareholder-friendly activities (dividends/buybacks) in the space.
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Past performance is no guarantee of future results. Inherent in any investment is the potential for loss. This material is being provided for informational purposes only and nothing herein constitutes investment, legal, accounting or tax advice, or a recommendation to buy, sell or hold a security. No recommendation or advice is being given as to whether any investment is suitable for a particular investor. It should not be assumed that any investments in securities, companies, sectors or markets identified and described were or will be profitable. All information is current as of the date of herein and is subject to change without notice. Any views or opinions expressed may not reflect those of the firm as a whole. Zacks Investment Research does not engage in investment banking, market making or asset management activities of any securities. These returns are from hypothetical portfolios consisting of stocks with Zacks Rank = 1 that were rebalanced monthly with zero transaction costs. These are not the returns of actual portfolios of stocks. The S&P 500 is an unmanaged index. Visit https://www.zacks.com/performance for information about the performance numbers displayed in this press release.