NEW YORK (Reuters) -
Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV - News) on Thursday said first-quarter earnings nearly tripled as revenue climbed and the discount carrier's fuel hedges took the sting out of surging energy prices.
The largest U.S. airline by market value reported profit of $76 million, or 9 cents a share, compared with $26 million, or 3 cents a share, a year earlier.
Analysts on average were expecting earnings of 5 cents a share, according to Reuters Estimates.
In trading before the market opened, the Dallas-based company's shares edged up to $15 on the Inet electronic brokerage from Wednesday's close of $14.72 on the New York Stock Exchange.
Hedging, or the purchase of contracts that lock in prearranged prices of crude and heating oil, allowed Southwest to control 86 percent of its fuel costs, cutting energy expenses by $155 million in the first quarter.
Analysts expect the airline industry as a whole to post losses of about $2 billion in the first quarter, on top of nearly $10 billion last year.
[...]
The company's first-quarter revenue rose 12.1 percent to $1.66 billion from $1.48 billion a year earlier.
Southwest said its cost per available seat mile, a gauge of how much it spends to fly passengers, fell 1.5 percent to 7.70 cents from 7.82 cents.
The company said it is 83 percent hedged for the second quarter, with fuel prices capped at $26 per barrel, or about half current market levels.
The airline said it had $1.91 billion of cash on hand as of March 31, plus an available $575 million unsecured revolving credit line.
Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV - News) on Thursday said first-quarter earnings nearly tripled as revenue climbed and the discount carrier's fuel hedges took the sting out of surging energy prices.
The largest U.S. airline by market value reported profit of $76 million, or 9 cents a share, compared with $26 million, or 3 cents a share, a year earlier.
Analysts on average were expecting earnings of 5 cents a share, according to Reuters Estimates.
In trading before the market opened, the Dallas-based company's shares edged up to $15 on the Inet electronic brokerage from Wednesday's close of $14.72 on the New York Stock Exchange.
Hedging, or the purchase of contracts that lock in prearranged prices of crude and heating oil, allowed Southwest to control 86 percent of its fuel costs, cutting energy expenses by $155 million in the first quarter.
Analysts expect the airline industry as a whole to post losses of about $2 billion in the first quarter, on top of nearly $10 billion last year.
[...]
The company's first-quarter revenue rose 12.1 percent to $1.66 billion from $1.48 billion a year earlier.
Southwest said its cost per available seat mile, a gauge of how much it spends to fly passengers, fell 1.5 percent to 7.70 cents from 7.82 cents.
The company said it is 83 percent hedged for the second quarter, with fuel prices capped at $26 per barrel, or about half current market levels.
The airline said it had $1.91 billion of cash on hand as of March 31, plus an available $575 million unsecured revolving credit line.
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