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Delta (DAL) Expects 90% Decline in Q2 Revenues, Shares Down

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Delta Air Lines Inc (DAL - Free Report) anticipates second-quarter 2020 revenues to decline 90% from the year-ago period, thanks to coronavirus-induced travel demand woes. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for the same indicates an 88.6% drop. Following this bleaker-than-expected forecast for the second quarter, shares of the company slipped more than 7% at the close of business on Jun 10.

System-wide capacity is expected to be down 85% year over year in the current quarter. On a positive note, Delta reduced its operating expenses by more than 50% for the June quarter. This, coupled with “recent improvement in net sales and stabilization in refund requests”, is anticipated to reduce the carrier’s average daily cash outflow to approximately $40 million by the end of June from roughly $100 million per day at the end of March. With modest improvement in demand, particularly domestic leisure travel demand and greater cost cuts, the airline hopes to reduce its average daily cash outflow to zero by the end of this year.

Delta anticipates the demand-recovery environment to be better on the domestic front than in international markets. As a result, the carrier added 100 additional domestic flights in June. It plans to continue adding flights in the third quarter as demand increases.


As for cash reserves, since March, Delta has raised more than $10 billion in financing through various means, including the Payroll Support Program under the CARES Act. The company expects to end 2020 with $10 billion in cash, cash equivalents, short-term investments and borrowing capacity under its revolving credit facilities.

Zacks Rank & Key Picks

Delta carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). Some better-ranked stocks in the broader Transportation sector are Scorpio Tankers Inc. (STNG - Free Report) , Teekay Tankers Ltd. (TNK - Free Report) and Frontline Ltd (FRO - Free Report) . While Frontline sports a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), Scorpio Tankers and Teekay Tankers carry a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Scorpio Tankers’ current-year earnings has been revised upward in excess of 100% in the past 60 days.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Teekay Tanker’s current-year earnings has been revised 35.6% upward in the past 60 days.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Frontline’s current-year earnings has been revised 17.1% upward in the past 60 days.

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