Southwest Posts $270M Q3 Profit on Record $8.4B Revenue, Unit Revenue Up 21.6%
LUV sits 36% above its 52-week low of $29.26.
Summary
Southwest reported Q3 net income of $270M alongside record revenue of $8.4B, with unit revenues up 21.6% and adjusted EPS of $0.66, while GAAP EPS came in at 55c and capacity fell 0.4%. The company guided Q4 adjusted EPS to 55c to 80c and expects Q4 ASMs growth of 3% to 4% year-over-year. This lands right after the 8-K filed at 20:16 ET and follows CFO Tom Doxey's mid-September comments at the Morgan Stanley conference that revenue was running ahead of expectations — the quarter appears to have delivered on that. For a carrier with a roughly $19.5B market cap, a $270M quarterly profit and 21.6% unit revenue growth is a meaningful swing back toward profitability after fuel costs and a $285M non-cash breakage reversal pressured Q2 GAAP results. The Q4 guide is the number that matters now; it sets the bar for the holiday quarter.
At the time of this announcement, LUV was trading at $39.77 on NYSE in the Energy & Transportation sector, with a market capitalization of approximately $19.5B. The 52-week trading range was $29.26 to $55.11. This news item was assessed with positive market sentiment and an importance score of 8 out of 10. Source: Dow Jones Newswires.