JetBlue Airways Corporation (NASDAQ:JBLU) recently reported traffic figures for April. Traffic measured in revenue passenger miles (RPMs), increased 6.6% year over year to 4.59 billion. Consolidated capacity (or available seat miles/ASMs) expanded 7.4% to 5.39 billion on a year-over-year basis.
However, load factor or percentage of seats filled by passengers contracted 60 basis points (bps) to 85.1% in the month as capacity expansion exceeded traffic growth.
This Long Island City, NY-based low-cost carrier registered a completion factor (system wide) of 98.6% in the month with 73.4% flights on schedule.
In the first four months of 2019, the carrier posted a 7.1% rise in RPMs while ASMs grew 9.4%, both on a year-over-year basis. Meanwhile, load factor deteriorated 170 bps to 83.2%.
The company maintains its second-quarter revenue per available seat mile (RASM) projection. The metric is anticipated to rise 1-4% in the current quarter. Additionally, consolidated operating cost per available seat mile excluding fuel is expected to increase 1.5-3.5% in the ongoing quarter. Meanwhile, capacity is forecast to increase between 4.5% and 6.5% in the period.
Zacks Rank & Key Picks
JetBlue carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). Some better-ranked stocks in the same space are SkyWest, Inc. (NASDAQ:SKYW) , Swire Pacific Ltd. (OTC:SWRAY) and Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL) . While SkyWest and Swire Pacific sport a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), Delta Air Lines carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.
Shares of SkyWest, Swire Pacific and Delta Air Lines have rallied more than 9%, 21% and 8%, respectively, in a year’s time.
Zacks' Top 10 Stocks for 2019
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Delta Air Lines, Inc. (DAL): Free Stock Analysis Report
JetBlue Airways Corporation (JBLU): Free Stock Analysis Report
SkyWest, Inc. (SKYW): Free Stock Analysis Report
Swire Pacific Ltd. (SWRAY): Free Stock Analysis Report
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