Alaska Air Group (ALK) to report higher revenue and earnings in Q4

Alaska Air Group Inc. (NYSE: ALK) is slated to report fourth quarter 2019 earnings results on Tuesday, January 28, after the market closes. The airline is expected to deliver higher revenue and profits for the quarter versus the year-ago period.

Analysts have estimated earnings of $1.41 per share which compares to EPS of $0.75 reported a year earlier. Revenue is expected to increase 7% year-over-year to $2.22 billion.

The topline numbers are expected to benefit from strong demand during the quarter. Last quarter, passenger revenue grew 8%. The momentum in traffic and capacity is also likely to push growth during the period. The company reported capacity increases in all three months of the quarter while traffic saw a slight decline in November.

December saw the strongest numbers with a 9.4% growth in traffic and a 4.7% rise in capacity. The results are also likely to benefit from lower fuel costs. Last quarter, economic fuel cost per gallon fell 8.6%. However, higher non-fuel unit costs might dampen the quarterly results.

In the third quarter of 2019, Alaska Air beat revenue and earnings expectations. Revenue increased 8% to $2.34 billion while adjusted EPS jumped 38% to $2.63. RASM was up 4.5% while CASM, ex fuel rose 3.4%.

Shares of Alaska Air have gained 2% in the past one year. The majority of analysts have rated the stock as Buy and it has an average price target of $76.44.

Southwest Airlines (NYSE: LUV), JetBlue Airways (NYSE: JBLU) and American Airlines (NYSE: AAL) all reported their fourth quarter earnings this week. While JetBlue and American beat earnings estimates, Southwest missed profit expectations.

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