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Southwest Airlines (LUV) Beats on Q4 Earnings

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Southwest Airlines Co. (LUV - Free Report) is a low-cost passenger carrier that provides scheduled air transportation in the United States. The carrier also plans to expand its international operations to 50 international destinations. Earlier, it completed the acquisition of AirTran Holdings, which now operates as a wholly owned subsidiary under the name AirTran Airways.

Currently, Southwest Airlines has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy), but that could definitely change following the carrier’s earnings report which was just released. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.  

We have highlighted some of the key stats from this just-revealed announcement below:

Earnings: Southwest Airlines’ fourth-quarter 2016 earnings per share (on an adjusted basis) beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 69 cents per share by over 7%. Earnings, however, declined 17.8% on a year over year basis.

Revenue: Southwest Airlines reported revenues of $5,076 million edged past the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $5,025.3 million. Revenues increased 2% on a year over year basis.

Key Stats to Note: In the reported quarter, Revenue per available seat mile (RASM: a key measure of unit revenue) stood at 13.66 cents, down 2.9% year over year. The metric is expected to be flat to down 1% in the first quarter of 2017 on a year-over-year basis. Unit costs, excluding fuel and oil expense, special items and profit sharing expense, are expected to increase in the band of 6% to 7% in the first quarter of 2017, mainly due to the recent labor deals inked by the company.

Check back later for our full write up on this Southwest Airlines earnings report later!

 

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