JetBlue Bondholders Bring In PJT Partners as Cash Burn and Fuel Costs Mount
JBLU is trading near its 52-week low of $2.4 (9.6% above the low).
Summary
Senior bondholders have hired PJT Partners to advise them while JetBlue burns cash and absorbs high fuel costs, per WSJ-sourced reporting. That is the kind of move creditors make when they expect to negotiate over the capital structure, not when they expect a quick recovery. The backdrop is ugly: a $247 million net loss in Q2 as fuel costs surged 81%, liquidity of $2.2 billion propped up by a new $500 million aircraft financing, and shares at an all-time low with short interest above 30% of float. The stock has already fallen 9.1% in a single session this month on weak airfare pricing data, so this adds creditor-side pressure on top of an equity base that is already priced for distress. Q3 results are the next hard checkpoint given the market is bracing for them.
At the time of this announcement, JBLU was trading at $2.63 on NASDAQ in the Energy & Transportation sector, with a market capitalization of approximately $990.4M. The 52-week trading range was $2.40 to $6.62. This news item was assessed with negative market sentiment and an importance score of 8 out of 10. Source: Dow Jones Newswires.