Copa Holdings (NYSE:CPA), S.A. CPA reported a significant decline in January traffic as it grapples with coronavirus-led travel demand woes. Consolidated traffic, measured in revenue passenger miles (RPMs), plunged 66% year over year to 621.4 million.
With travel demand significantly below 2019 levels, the airline’s capacity (measured in available seat miles/ASMs), declined 54.8% year over year to 979.5 million in January. Load factor (percentage of seats filled by passengers) slipped 2080 basis points to 63.4% as traffic decreased more than the contraction in capacity.
Amid coronavirus-induced tepid travel demand, the carrier incurred a loss (excluding $1.97 from non-recurring items) of $2.00 per share in fourth-quarter 2020, wider than the Zacks Consensus Estimate of a loss of $1.90.
Quarterly revenues of $158.6 million beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $153.4 million. However, the top line plunged 76.7% year over year with passenger revenues (contributed 93% to the top line) declining 77.6%.
Owing to COVID-19’s effect on the aviation industry, the company operated at a capacity of approximately 27% of its 2019 level in the fourth quarter.
Zacks Rank & Key Picks
Copa Holdings carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). Some better-ranked stocks in the broader Transportation sector are ArcBest (NASDAQ:ARCB) Corp. ARCB, Saia (NASDAQ:SAIA), Inc. SAIA and Herc Holdings (NYSE:HRI) Inc. HRI, each carrying a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
Shares of ArcBest, Saia and Herc Holdings have rallied more than 77%, 57% and 80% in the past six months, respectively.
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