GOL Linhas (GOL) Reports 6.9% Rise In April Air Traffic

Gol Linhas Aereas Inteligentes SA (NYSE:GOL) recently reported air traffic numbers for the month of April. Consolidated traffic – measured in revenue passenger kilometers (RPK) – improved 6.9% to 2.7 billion in Apr 2017 on a year-over-year basis. International and domestic RPK in the month rose 3.2% and 7.4%, respectively.

Consolidated capacity (or available seat kilometers/ASKs) expanded 2.6% year over year to 3.4 billion, primarily buoyed by a 3.2% increase in domestic capacity. The metric, however, contracted 1.5% on the international front. Load factor – percentage of seats filled by passengers – rose 320 basis points (bps) to 79% (on a consolidated basis) in Apr 2017. This can be attributed to the fact that traffic growth was higher than capacity expansion in the month. The company recorded a 5.6% reduction in number of seats in April, while volume of departures decreased 6.2%.

On a year-to-date basis, consolidated RPK was up 2% while ASK slipped 1%. Load factor for the same period increased 230 bps to 79.4%.

Gol Linhas recently reported first-quarter 2017 earnings numbers. Earnings per share of $1.06 surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 15 cents by a significant margin. However, the bottom line contracted 23.2% on a year-over-year basis, due to escalating costs. Net revenue in the first quarter of 2017 came in at $841.2 million.

Zacks Rank & Key Picks

Gol Linhas currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). Better-ranked stocks in the airline space include Air China Ltd. AIRYY, Deutsche Lufthansa (DE:LHAG) AG (OTC:DLAKY) and Ryanair Holdings PLC (NASDAQ:RYAAY) . While Air China sports a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), Deutsche Lufthansa and Ryanair Holdings carry a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

Shares of Air China, Deutsche Lufthansa and Ryanair gained over 43%, 41% and 17%, respectively, on a year-to-date basis.

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