On Friday, Delta Air Lines officials gladly shared the earnings report for the fourth quarter of 2022.
The officials revealed the revenue and the profit figures for Q4 2022 and they were above the expectations of the investors.
The company revealed that it ended the year 2022 with a very strong finish. Their performance was more than satisfactory as the year 2022 came to a close.
Although things were quite promising for the fourth quarter, the company’s outlook for the year 2023 was not what the investors had expected.
The report shows that the outlook that the officials shared for the first quarter of 2023 was not promising at all. Therefore, the share prices for the company were seen moving in the downward direction.
Expectations for the First Quarter of 2022
For the first quarter of 2023, the officials predicted that they hope to generate earnings that could be somewhere between 15 cents to 40 cents.
The prediction made by the executives at Delta Air Lines was lower than what the analysts had expected for the same quarter.
Apart from the earnings, it has been predicted by the executives that their sales would surge between 14% and 17% compared to the same quarter of 2019.
The capacity of the company is also expected to record a 1% dip, which was recorded about four years back. However, a surge is expected in the costs of the tickets and traveling that could impact the profits.
The company expects that the rising fuel prices and the cost of labor are eventually going to increase unit costs. The unit costs would increase by 3% to 4% compared to the year 2022.
They are also going to face a difficult time when trying to rebuild their network, which is because of the rising costs.
Labor Costs Agreement
It is being claimed that the pilots union of Delta Air Lines is currently reviewing a contract proposal. They are going to go through the proposal and then present it for approval.
The proposal includes increments that could be as high as 30% in the upcoming years. The union has revealed that they want the increments to be applied in four years.
The representatives at the Air Line Pilots Association have made it clear that they are working on the tentative agreement’s finalized language.
They have revealed that they are thinking about holding a vote in the next few days. If things work out fine and the voting is successful, then they will have finalized the language of the agreement.
After that phase is complete, the agreement may go to the pilots so they can vote on the rates, and then it will be sent over to the executives at Delta Air Lines.
Quarterly Earnings and Full-Year Outlook
Prior to posting the outlook for the year 2023, the officials shared the earnings for the fourth quarter of 2022.
For the fourth quarter, Delta posted earnings of $1.48 per share. The expectations that the analysts had set for the fourth quarter earnings were $1.33 per share.
The revenue that the company generated for the fourth quarter is worth $12.29 billion. The expectations that the analysts had set for the revenue for the fourth quarter were $12.23 billion.
As for the entire year of 2023, the company has reiterated its earnings estimation. The company has announced that it is going to be for $5 to $6 per share.
Following the announcement, the share prices for the airline company have dipped by over 3%. On the other hand, the share prices for the rival airline companies have performed well.
As for the fourth quarter of 2022, Delta has revealed that they have generated sales worth $13.44 billion. Compared to the same quarter of 2019, the sales they have recorded are 17% higher.