With commission-free trading, people starting out in online stock trading can get more motivated. Observing the earnings report of companies will also help. The earnings report is an important means to identify the health of a company, which reflects on its stock.
American Airlines ($AAL) has reported earnings that have been better than expected in Q3. Its adjusted earnings per share were $2.80, which easily surpassed the $1.68 Zacks Consensus Estimate. There was a year-over-year increase in quarterly earnings by over 1%.
The group earned revenue worth $10,594 million, which was actually 1.1% lower than the year-ago figure though it was above what the Zacks Consensus Estimate was, at $10,549 million. Other carriers such as Alaska Air Group ($ALK) and United Continental Holdings ($UAL) also reported Q3 earnings and revenues that were better than expected.
$AAL did experience a 3.3% decline in PRASM, which is the passenger revenue available per seat mile. PRASM declined to 12.62 cents in the third quarter. The company’s consolidated yield had a 0.6% dip to 15.27 cents, while total revenue per available seat mile had a 2.2% decline to 14.73 cents. Another important estimate is the traffic versus capacity estimate. American Airlines had to run relatively empty planes since while traffic decreased by 1.6%, capacity increased by 1.2%. As a result, the percentage of seats that were filled by passengers, called the consolidated load factor, declined to 83.3% from 85.6% a year ago.
$AAL’s total operating expenses were $9.2 million, an increase of 5.2%. This could be easily accounted for by the renewed labor policies of the company. It has increased salaries as well as benefits expenses by 15.3%. The $86 million accrual relating to the company’s profit sharing initiative has significantly contributed to the rise in expenses.
In the third quarter, American Airlines managed to offer dividends worth $53 million and $616 worth share buyback. It declared 10 cents per share dividend. Since 2014, it has returned over $9 billion to stockholders in the form of dividends and share repurchases.
So overall, this seems a stock worth considering. Insights into the right kind of stocks to consider are necessary for online stock trading. Such insights can only come with the help of efficient trading software of the kind TradeZero offers. Get in touch with us at +1 954-944-3885, or email us at support@tradezero.co.
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