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Copa Holdings (CPA) October Traffic Up, Load Factor Down

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Copa Holdings, S.A. (CPA - Free Report) reported traffic figures for October. Traffic, measured in revenue passenger miles (RPMs), was 1.75 billion, up 2.7% from the year-ago figure.

On a year-over-year basis, consolidated capacity (or available seat miles/ASMs) increased 6.2% to 2.14 billion. However, load factor (% of seats filled by passengers) contracted 280 basis points (bps) to 82% in the month as traffic growth was outstripped by capacity expansion.
 
In the first 10 months of 2018, the carrier generated RPMs of 17.95 billion (up 8.5% year over year) and ASMs of 21.51 billion (up 8.4%). Load factor registered a rise of 10 bps year over year to 83.4% during the period.

The company recently released third-quarter 2018 financial results posting lower-than-expected earnings. Moreover, the bottom line plunged significantly year over year. Quarterly revenues, though increased more than 2% year over year, fell shy of the Zacks Consensus Estimate. Results were hurt by high fuel prices and weakening Brazilian and Argentinian currencies. (Read more: Copa Holdings Q3 Earnings & Revenues Miss on Cost Woes)


Zacks Rank & Key Picks

Copa Holdings carries a Zacks Rank #4 (Sell).

Some better-ranked stocks in the airline space are Air France-KLM SA (AFLYY - Free Report) , International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (ICAGY - Free Report) and Spirit Airlines, Inc. (SAVE - Free Report) , each sporting a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

Shares of Air France-KLM and Spirit Airlines have surged more than 33% and 43%, respectively, in the past six months. Meanwhile the International Consolidated Airlines stock has gained more than 6% in a month.

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