Copa Holdings, S.A. CPA fourth-quarter 2024 earnings per share of $3.99 surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $3.84 but declined 10.7% year over year. Revenues of $877.1 million lagged the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $880.1 million and fell 4.4% year over year  due to a 4.8% decrease in passenger revenues.

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Passenger revenues (which contributed 94.9% to the top line) decreased 4.8% from the fourth quarter of 2023. The downside was due to a 10.8% decrease in passenger yield and a 0.4 percentage-point decrease in load factor. The fourth-quarter results are mostly comprised of flown passenger ticket revenues and passenger-related ancillary revenues.

Cargo and mail revenues of $29.0 million improved 9.2% year over year. Other operating revenues of $14.9 million grew 34.8% year over year, owing to an increase in ConnectMiles revenues from non-air partners.

Copa Holdings, S.A. Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise

Copa Holdings, S.A. price-consensus-eps-surprise-chart | Copa Holdings, S.A. Quote

The operating margin declined 0.2 percentage points from the year-ago quarter.

CPA’s Other Financial Details

On a consolidated basis, Copa Holdings’ traffic (measured in revenue passenger miles) grew 6.7% year over year, and capacity (measured in available seat miles) increased 7.2% from the year-ago quarter. Since traffic growth failed to outpace capacity expansion, the load factor (percentage of seats filled by passengers) decreased 0.4 percentage points to 86.3% in the reported quarter.

Passenger revenue per available seat miles dipped 11.2% year over year to 10.8 cents. Revenue per available seat mile (RASM) declined 10.4% year over year to 11.3 cents. Cost per available seat mile dipped 10.1% year over year. Excluding fuel, the metric fell 2.6% year over year. The average fuel price per gallon decreased 22.6% year over year to $2.38.

Total operating expenses decreased 3.7% year over year to $672.9 million due to a 22.6% decrease in the average price per fuel gallon and an 8.3% decrease in the sales and distribution costs, despite a 6.7% increase in passenger traffic year over year.

Expenses on wages, salaries, benefits and other employee expenses rose 3.3% year over year, whereas maintenance, materials and repairs increased 10.5% year over year. Sales and distribution costs decreased 8.3% year over year. Passenger servicing costs grew 6.6% from the year-ago quarter. Other operating and administrative expenses decreased 5.7% from the fourth quarter of 2023.

Copa Holdings exited the fourth quarter with cash and cash equivalents of $613.31 million compared with $275.25 million at the prior-quarter end. Total debt, including lease liabilities, was $1.94 billion compared with $1.87 billion at the third-quarter end.

During the fourth quarter, CPA took delivery of two Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircraft. CPA ended 2024 with a consolidated fleet of 112 aircraft, which comprises 67 Boeing 737-800s, 32 Boeing 737 MAX 9s, nine Boeing 737-700s, three Boeing 737 MAX 8, and one Boeing 737-800 freighter.

CPA’s Outlook

CPA’s management now expects consolidated capacity to grow 7-8% year over year, and the operating margin is expected to be in the range of 20-22%. RASM is now expected to be 11.3 cents.

The load factor is now expected to be 86.5%. Non-fuel unit costs are anticipated to be 5.8 cents. The fuel cost is expected to be $2.60 per gallon.

Copa Holdings expects to end 2025 with 126 aircraft and 2026 with 130 aircraft.

CPA’s Zacks Rank

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

Q4 Performances of Other Transportation Companies

Delta Air Lines DAL reported fourth-quarter 2024 earnings (excluding 56 cents from non-recurring items) of $1.85 per share, which surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $1.76. Earnings increased 44.5% on a year-over-year basis due to low fuel costs.

DAL’srevenues of $15.56 billion surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $14.99 billion and increased 9.4% on a year-over-year basis, driven by strong holiday travel demand. Adjusted operating revenues (excluding third-party refinery sales) totaled $14.44 billion, up 5.7% year over year. Passenger revenues, which accounted for 82.4% of total revenues, increased 5% year over year at $12.82 billion.

J.B. Hunt Transport Services (JBHT) reported fourth-quarter 2024 earnings per share of $1.53, which fell short of the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $1.62. However, the bottom line increased 4.1% on a year-over-year basis.  

JBHT’s total operating revenues of $3.15 billion narrowly beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $3.13 billion but declined 4.8% year over year. The decline was mainly due to lower fuel surcharge revenues and yield pressure in its Intermodal segment.

JBHT’s fourth-quarter 2024 operating revenues of $2.78 billion, excluding fuel surcharge revenue, decreased 2% from the year-ago reported quarter. Total operating income for the reported quarter increased 2% year over year to $207 million.

Alaska Air Group, Inc. (ALK) reported solid fourth-quarter 2024results, wherein both earnings and revenues surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate. Quarterly earnings per share of 97 cents outpaced the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 47 cents and improved more than 100% on a year-over-year basis. The reported figure exceeded the guided range of 40-50 cents.

ALK’s bottom line benefitted from solid revenue growth, cost and operational performance throughout the quarter and holiday travel periods. ALK also benefitted from a renegotiation of certain interest payments and favorability in its fourth-quarter tax rate.

ALK’s operating revenues of $3.53 billion beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $3.51 billion. The top line jumped 38.4% year over year, with passenger revenues accounting for 89.9% of the top line and increasing 37% owing to continued recovery in air-travel demand.

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