Back to top

Image: Bigstock

Delta Air Lines (DAL) Outpaces Stock Market Gains: What You Should Know

Read MoreHide Full Article

Delta Air Lines (DAL - Free Report) closed the most recent trading day at $47.52, moving +0.47% from the previous trading session. This move outpaced the S&P 500's daily gain of 0.14%. At the same time, the Dow lost 0.09%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq gained 0.68%.

Coming into today, shares of the airline had lost 6.17% in the past month. In that same time, the Transportation sector gained 9.85%, while the S&P 500 gained 9.43%.

DAL will be looking to display strength as it nears its next earnings release, which is expected to be April 11, 2019. On that day, DAL is projected to report earnings of $0.84 per share, which would represent year-over-year growth of 13.51%. Meanwhile, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for revenue is projecting net sales of $10.53 billion, up 5.62% from the year-ago period.

Looking at the full year, our Zacks Consensus Estimates suggest analysts are expecting earnings of $6.56 per share and revenue of $46.68 billion. These totals would mark changes of +16.11% and +5.04%, respectively, from last year.

It is also important to note the recent changes to analyst estimates for DAL. 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.

Research indicates that these estimate revisions are directly correlated with near-term share price momentum. Investors can capitalize on this by using the Zacks Rank. This model considers these estimate changes and provides a simple, actionable rating system.

Ranging from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), the Zacks Rank system has a proven, outside-audited track record of outperformance, with #1 stocks returning an average of +25% annually since 1988. The Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has moved 0.14% higher within the past month. DAL is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).

Valuation is also important, so investors should note that DAL has a Forward P/E ratio of 7.21 right now. Its industry sports an average Forward P/E of 9.39, so we one might conclude that DAL is trading at a discount comparatively.

It is also worth noting that DAL currently has a PEG ratio of 0.55. This popular metric is similar to the widely-known P/E ratio, with the difference being that the PEG ratio also takes into account the company's expected earnings growth rate. Transportation - Airline stocks are, on average, holding a PEG ratio of 0.81 based on yesterday's closing prices.

The Transportation - Airline industry is part of the Transportation sector. This industry currently has a Zacks Industry Rank of 7, which puts it in the top 3% 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.

To follow DAL in the coming trading sessions, be sure to utilize Zacks.com.


See More Zacks Research for These Tickers


Normally $25 each - click below to receive one report FREE:


Delta Air Lines, Inc. (DAL) - free report >>

Published in