American Airlines (AAL) stock us up 4% after the company announced better-than-expected fourth-quarter financial results and gave a bullish outlook for 2024.
The airline posted Q4 2023 earnings per share (EPS) of $0.29 U.S. on revenue of $13.10 billion U.S. Wall Street analysts had expected a profit of $0.11 U.S. on sales of $13 billion U.S.
Load factor, a key measure of how much of an airline’s passenger carrying capacity is used, was 83.6% in Q4 of last year, topping estimates of 82.9%.
Looking ahead, American Airlines said it expects to report earnings of $2.25 U.S. to $3.25 U.S. a share for all of 2024. Analysts surveyed by FactSet expected full-year earnings of $2.14 U.S.
American Airlines said in its earnings release that it is benefiting from continued strength in air travel coming out of the Covid-19 pandemic, including record bookings over the recent holidays.
Before today (Jan. 25), the stock of American Airlines had declined 14% over the last 12 months and was trading at $13.93 U.S. per share.
