Hawaiian Holdings (HA) Q4 Earnings In Line, Decline Y/Y

Hawaiian Holdings’ (NASDAQ:HA) fourth-quarter 2017 earnings per share (excluding $2.19 from non-recurring items) of $1.10 were in line with the Zacks Consensus Estimate. Quarterly revenues of $686.5 million marginally fell short of the Zacks Consensus Estimate. While the bottom line declined 14.1% due to high costs, the top line increased 8.5% on a year-over-year basis.

Passenger revenues accounted for bulk (give the percentage) of the top line. Passenger revenues increased 7.8%, thereby boosting the top line.

Airline traffic, measured in revenue passenger miles, increased 4.9% year over year to 32.19 billion in the quarter under review. Capacity or available seat miles (ASMs) expanded 5% to 37.89 billion. Load factor (percentage of seats filled by passengers) was flat at 86% in the reported quarter.

Operating revenue per available seat mile (RASM) in the reported quarter climbed 3.3% year over year. However, the metric is projected to be down 0.5% to up 2.5% on a year-over-year basis in the first quarter of 2018.

Cost per available seat mile (CASM) excluding fuel is anticipated to rise between 3.5% and 6.5% in the first quarter while the same is projected to be down 0.5% to up 2.5% in 2018. Fuel cost per gallon (economic) is anticipated in the band of $1.90-$2 for the first quarter of 2018 whereas for 2018, the metric is projected between $1.97 and $2.07.

Liquidity

As of Dec 31, 2017, the company had unrestricted cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments of $460 million. While outstanding debt and capital lease obligations were $571 million during the period.

Zacks Rank & Key Picks

Hawaiian Holdings carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). Some better-ranked stocks in the airline space are Deutsche Lufthansa (DE:LHAG) AG (OTC:DLAKY) , Air France-KLM SA (OTC:AFLYY) and Gol Linhas Aereas Inteligentes S.A. (NYSE:GOL) . While Deutsche Lufthansa sports a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), Air France-KLM and Gol Linhas carry a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

Shares of Deutsche Lufthansa have soared more than 100% in 2017 while Air France-KLM and Gol Linhas stocks have skyrocketed more than 200% over the same time frame.

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