“Delta has a relatively old fleet and a really good maintenance organization”, said George Ferguson, senior air transport analyst with Bloomberg Intelligence. But now it’s navigating to put unit revenue back on a “positive trajectory”. (NYSE:DAL) recently declared financial results for the September 2015 quarter, including adjusted net income1 of $1.4 billion or $1.74 per diluted share, up 45% from the September quarter of 2014. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters were expecting $1.71 per share.
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On a different note, The Company has disclosed insider buying and selling activities to the Securities Exchange, The Securities and Exchange Commission has divulged that Jacobson Paul A, officer (EVP & CFO) of Delta Air Lines Inc /De/, had unloaded 7,000 shares at an average price of $46.5 in a transaction dated on September 23, 2015.
Cowen and Company upgraded shares of Spirit Airlines (NASDAQ:SAVE) from a market perform rating to an outperform rating in a research report sent to investors on Friday morning, The Fly reports.
For the fourth-quarter, Delta Air Lines projects revenue to decline in the range of 2.50 percent to 4.50 percent. Company price to sale ratio is 0.56 and has 0.26% insider ownership. In June 2013, Delta Air Lines Inc acquired a 49% stake in Virgin Atlantic Airways Ltd.
-Airlines are fighting an effort by airports to raise from $4.50 to $8.50 the “passenger facility charge” included in ticket prices.
Still, Delta continued to reap huge dividends from the steep decline in crude oil prices this year. Delta burned more than 1 billion gallons in the third quarter and saved more than $1 per gallon over last year’s price. It was this huge fuel tailwind that catalyzed Delta’s record profit. “Prices are going to get lower”.
In other Delta Air Lines news, CEO Richard H. Anderson sold 75,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 24th. While older planes burn more fuel, they carry lower ownership costs vs. new planes. But lately airline profitability has rebounded thanks to mergers, lower fuel prices and an improved economy. (DAL) shares have been flying high as of late.
Southwest shares held at 40.84 Wednesday. Institutional Investors own 85.81% of Delta Air Lines shares. One year earlier, those self-same margins amounted to 15.80%. “And American has to battle domestically with Spirit and others”.
And of course, Delta and other airlines all have a litany of surcharges that boost revenues too.
But Delta faces a tough battle in Seattle withAlaska Airlines ( ALK ). (NYSE:DAL), inclined 2.72% to $47.21.
The U.S. Global Jets ETF (NYSEArca: JETS) was up 0.5% Wednesday while DAL was 1.6% higher. Delta says the planes are used to compete on routes Delta flies. They presently have a $62.00 price target on the stock.
Delta has an IBD Composite Rating of 96 out of 99.
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Though the best-performing of the three biggest US airlines over the past several years, Delta has a few challenges on the horizon. JetBlue, Alaska Air and SkyWest plunged Tuesday following cautious comments from analysts. And JPMorgan downgradedJetBlue (JBLU) to neutral from overweight, maintaining its 27 price target.
