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Spirit Airlines (SAVE) Beats on Q4 Earnings

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Spirit Airlines (SAVE - Free Report) reported fourth-quarter 2017 earnings per share (on an adjusted basis) of 73 cents, beating the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 71 cents. Earnings, however, decreased  on a year-over-year basis due to higher costs.

How Was the Estimate Revision Trend?

Investors should note that the earnings estimate revisions for Spirit Airlines depicted a healthy picture prior to the earnings release. The stock had seen the Zacks Consensus Estimate for fourth-quarter earnings being revised 44.8% upward over the last 30 days.

The company also has an impressive earnings history having outperformed the Zacks Consensus Estimate in each of the last four quarters with an average beat of 3.8%.

Revenues Better Than Expected

Spirit Airlines recorded revenues of $667 million, surpassing the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $666 million. Revenues were 15.3% higher than the year-ago figure. The uptick was driven by an increase in flight volume.

Key Stats to Note: In the reported quarter, total revenue per available seat mile increased 17.9% year over year. Load factor (% of seats filled by passengers) increased to 81.6% from 81.4% in the year-ago quarter. Load factor increased 20 basis points as traffic growth outpaced capacity expansion (17.6%) during the reported quarter. Adjusted cost per available seat mile, excluding special items and fuel decreased 4.4%.

Zacks Rank: Currently, Spirit Airlines has a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) but that could change following the company’s earnings report which was just released. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

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