Air Lease Corporation’s (AL) reported solid third-quarter 2024 results wherein both earnings and revenues surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate. Quarterly earnings per share (EPS) of $1.25 beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $1.22.

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Total revenues of $690.2 million lagged the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $681.7 million and grew 4.7% year over year.

Other Statistics

Revenues from the rental of flight equipment grew 3.5% year over year to $625.18 million. The uptick was owing to growth in AL’s fleet, partially offset by a decline in end-of-lease revenue of almost $12 million (due to fewer aircraft returns during the reported quarter) and a slight decrease in AL’s lease yields (due to the sales of older aircraft with higher lease yields and the purchases of new aircraft with lower initial lease yields).

Revenues from aircraft sales, trading activity and other sources grew 17% from the year-ago quarter to $64.98 million, owing to an increase in gains from aircraft sales. AL witnessed $42 million in gains from the sale of nine aircraft during the reported quarter.

Operating expenses rose 13.3% year over year to $559.9 million.

As of Sept. 30, 2024, Air Lease owned 485 aircraft with a net book value of $27.9 billion. The total fleet size at the third-quarter end was 836 (including the owned fleet of 485, 64 managed fleet and 287 aircraft on order).

Air Lease exited the third quarter with $460.78 million in cash and cash equivalents compared with $454.12 million at the prior-quarter end. Debt financing, net of discount and issuance costs, amounted to $20.16 billion at the third-quarter end compared with $19.67 billion at the prior-quarter end.

Currently, Air Lease carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

Performances of Other Transportation Companies

Delta Air Lines DALreported third-quarter 2024 earnings (excluding 47 cents from non-recurring items) of $1.50 per share, which fell short of the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $1.56. Earnings decreased 26.11% on a year-over-year basis due to high labor costs.

DAL’s revenues of $15.68 billion surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $15.37 billion and increased 1.2% on a year-over-year basis, driven by strong air travel demand. Adjusted operating revenues (excluding third-party refinery sales) totaled $14.59 billion, flat year over year.

J.B. Hunt Transport Services, Inc.’sJBHT third-quarter 2024 earnings of $1.49 per share outpaced the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $1.42 but declined 17.2% year over year.

JBHT’s total operating revenues of $3.07 billion surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $3.04 billion but fell 3% year over year. The downfall was caused by 5% and 6% decreases in gross revenue per load in Intermodal (JBI) and Truckload, respectively; declines in load volume of 10% and 6% in Integrated Capacity Solutions (ICS) and Dedicated Contract Services, respectively; and 6% fewer stops in Final Mile Services. These were partially offset by JBI load growth of 5%, which included growth in the transcontinental and eastern networks and a 3% increase in revenue per load in ICS. JBHT’s total operating revenues, excluding fuel surcharge revenues, decreased less than 1% from the year-ago quarter.

United Airlines Holdings, Inc. UAL posted third-quarter 2024 EPS (excluding 43 cents from non-recurring items) of $3.33, which surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $3.10. Earnings decreased 8.8% on a year-over-year basis.

UAL’s operating revenues of $14.84 billion beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $14.76 billion. The top line increased 2.5% year over year due to upbeat air travel demand. This was driven by a 1.6% rise in passenger revenues (accounting for 91.3% of the top line) to $13.56 billion. Almost 45,559 passengers traveled on UAL flights in the third quarter, up 2.7% year over year.

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