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Delta Air Lines (DAL) Gains But Lags Market: What You Should Know

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Delta Air Lines (DAL - Free Report) closed the most recent trading day at $37.15, moving +0.6% from the previous trading session. This change lagged the S&P 500's 1.24% gain on the day. Meanwhile, the Dow gained 1.23%, and the Nasdaq, a tech-heavy index, added 0.15%.

Heading into today, shares of the airline had lost 16.84% over the past month, lagging the Transportation sector's loss of 0.05% and the S&P 500's loss of 2.45% in that time.

Delta Air Lines will be looking to display strength as it nears its next earnings release. In that report, analysts expect Delta Air Lines to post earnings of -$1.36 per share. This would mark year-over-year growth of 61.69%. Meanwhile, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for revenue is projecting net sales of $8.59 billion, up 106.97% from the year-ago period.

Looking at the full year, our Zacks Consensus Estimates suggest analysts are expecting earnings of $1.72 per share and revenue of $42.81 billion. These totals would mark changes of +142.16% and +43.17%, respectively, from last year.

Any recent changes to analyst estimates for Delta Air Lines should also be noted by investors. Recent revisions tend to reflect the latest near-term business trends. As such, positive estimate revisions reflect analyst optimism about the company's business and profitability.

Based on our research, we believe these estimate revisions are directly related to near-team stock moves. We developed the Zacks Rank to capitalize on this phenomenon. Our system takes these estimate changes into account and delivers a clear, actionable rating model.

The Zacks Rank system ranges from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell). It has a remarkable, outside-audited track record of success, with #1 stocks delivering an average annual return of +25% since 1988. Within the past 30 days, our consensus EPS projection has moved 11.13% lower. Delta Air Lines is currently a Zacks Rank #5 (Strong Sell).

Looking at its valuation, Delta Air Lines is holding a Forward P/E ratio of 21.51. Its industry sports an average Forward P/E of 20.28, so we one might conclude that Delta Air Lines is trading at a premium comparatively.

The Transportation - Airline industry is part of the Transportation sector. This group has a Zacks Industry Rank of 241, putting it in the bottom 6% of all 250+ industries.

The Zacks Industry Rank gauges the strength of our individual industry groups by measuring the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks within the groups. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.

Make sure to utilize Zacks.com to follow all of these stock-moving metrics, and more, in the coming trading sessions.


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