Sabre Rides On Partnerships, Renews Croatia Airlines Deal

Sabre Corporation (NASDAQ:SABR) recently announced that it is renewing its partnership of more than four years with Croatia Airlines. Per the deal, the carrier will upgrade from Sabre's revenue management product to Sabre AirVision Revenue Optimizer.

The partnership renewal will help Sabre to take advantage of Croatia Airlines’ flight network of 38 destinations across 24 countries. Notably, the 30-year-old airlines flew 2,168,863 passengers last year, up 2% from 2017.

Sabre’s Revenue Optimizer Solution – A Key Driver

The commercial aviation industry is characterized by intense competition and low margins, making revenue optimization a necessity for airline companies to keep bottom line healthy.

Notably, Sabre's revenue optimization solutions help airlines to forecast, analyze and optimize revenue streams. The offering enables airlines to leverage their inventory and break down data silos that may exist across the airline enterprise.

The Sabre AirVision Revenue Integrity solution is an integral part of the company’s revenue optimization solutions. It limits issues with bookings and increases utilization of aircraft seats.

Per internal studies conducted by the company, the Revenue Optimizer can increase revenues by about 5% while reducing processing time considerably. This provides Sabre immense opportunity to leverage its technology to aid clients’ growth.

Sabre’s broad set of SaaS Airline Solutions continues to gain momentum on the back of its constant efforts.

Notably, in the second quarter of 2019, Sabre’s Airline Solutions revenues totaled $211.8 million, up 3.4% from the year-ago quarter. AirVision and AirCentre revenues increased 14.7%.

Partnerships to Boost Airline Solutions Business

The company is banking on key partnerships to enhance the Airlines segment. It is taking a collaborative approach to deliver next-generation retailing experience through its airline clients.

In June this year, Sabre collaborated with marketing technology company, Cheetah Digital, to add loyalty management capabilities to its comprehensive offerings. Sabre integrated the cloud-based Cheetah Loyalty solution into the Sabre Commercial Platform, which enables the company’s airline clients to virtually manage and market loyalty programs to their consumers, further boosting the Airlines Solutions business.

Moreover, in May, Sabre announced a long-term agreement with Vietnam Airlines, which adopted the Sabre AirVision In-Flight solution. In the same month, the company also renewed its partnership with Polish carrier LOT.

Further, Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL) joined Sabre’s Beyond NDC program recently, and is working with the company on its newly announced Next Generation Storefront.

Such initiatives helped Sabre become a certified IATA ONE Order Capable for air flight transaction as an order management system and delivery provider, making it the first passenger service system to receive this certification.

Notably, Sabre’s customer centricity and continued efforts to enhance client experience have helped the company witness consistent revenue growth since its initial public offering in 2014. We therefore believe continued collaborations and extended partnerships will help the company boost its profitable Airline Solutions business.

Zacks Rank and Other Stocks to Consider

Sabre currently carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

A few other top-ranked stocks in the broader technology sector are Anixter International (NYSE:AXE) , Radware Ltd. (NASDAQ:RDWR) and Science Applications International Corporation (NYSE:SAIC) , each sporting a Zacks Rank #1.

Long-term earnings growth rate for Anixter, Radware and Fortinet is currently projected to be 8%, 18% and 5.5%, respectively.

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