Copa Holdings' (CPA) October Traffic And Load Factor Rise

Copa Holdings, S.A. (NYSE:CPA) reported a substantial rise in traffic for October. Traffic — measured in revenue passenger miles (RPMs) — came in at 1.71 billion, up 13.5% on a year-over-year basis.

Consolidated capacity (or available seat miles/ASMs) expanded 11.5% to 2 billion. As the increase in traffic outpaced growth in capacity, the load factor (percentage of seats filled by passengers) improved 150 basis points (bps) to 84.8% in the same month.

For the first 10 months of 2017, this Latin American carrier generated RPMs of 16.53 billion (up 13.1% year over year) and ASMs of 19.84 billion (up 8.9%). Also, load factor registered growth of 310 bps year over year to 83.4%.

Meanwhile, Copa Holdings, like its fellow carrier GOL Linhas (NYSE:GOL) , is benefiting from an improved Latin American economy backed by strong demand for air travel. Evidently, the company posted better-than-expected earnings per share and revenues in the third quarter of 2017.

In fact, the stock has performed well this year. The company has gained 45.1%, outperforming its industry’s rally of 11.4% on a year-to-date basis.

Zacks Rank & Stocks to Consider

Copa Holdings carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). Better-ranked stocks in the airline space include International Consolidated Airlines Group (LON:ICAG) SA (OTC:ICAGY) and Deutsche Lufthansa (DE:LHAG) AG (OTC:DLAKY) . While International Consolidated Airlines Group sports a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), Deutsche Lufthansa holds a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

Shares of International Consolidated Airlines and Deutsche Lufthansa have surged more than 48% and 100%, respectively, year to date.

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