Earnings Coverage - Delta Air Lines

LONDON, October 29, 2014 /PRNewswire/ --

Investor-Edge.com has issued free post-earnings review on Delta Air Lines Inc. (NYSE: DAL). On October 16, 2014, the company reported its financial results for Q3 FY14 (period ended September 30, 2014). Click on www.investor-edge.com/FreeReports to read our free earnings review on Delta Air Lines Inc. During Q3 FY14, Delta Air Lines Inc.'s operating revenue improved 7% on a Y-o-Y basis and its GAAP operating margin stood at 7.5%. Our free coverage report can be accessed at:

www.investor-edge.com/register

Earnings Overview 

During Q3 FY14, Delta Air Lines Inc. reported total operating revenue of $11,178 million, compared to $10,490 million in the same period last year. The company's total operating revenue during the reported quarter outperformed Bloomberg analysts' forecast of $11,115 million. Total passenger revenue increased 6% Y-o-Y to $9,776 million in Q3 FY14. Further, cargo revenue improved 7% Y-o-Y to $244 million and other revenue surged 15% Y-o-Y to $1,158 million. The free research on DAL can be downloaded as in PDF format at:

www.Investor-Edge.com/DALFreeReport

Delta's total operating expenses increased to $10,343 million in Q3 FY14, from $8,927 million in the prior-year quarter. The company's net income (GAAP) narrowed to $357 million, or $0.42 per diluted share, in Q3 FY14, from $1,369 million, or $1.59 per diluted share, in the same quarter last year. The results include $384 million in profit sharing expense in recognition of Delta employees' contributions toward achieving the company's financial goals, which makes a year-to-date profit sharing accrual of $823 million. On a non-GAAP basis, net income for Q3 FY14 was $1,014 million, or $1.20 per diluted share, and operating margin was 15.8%.

Richard Anderson, Chief Executive Officer of Delta Air Lines Inc., stated that Delta's results are consistent with high-quality S&P 500 industrials when considering this quarter's record profit, solid margin expansion and nearly $1 billion of free cash flow.  

In its guidance for the quarter ending December 2014, the company projects its profit sharing expense to be in the range of $200 million to $250 million. Further, non-operating expense is estimated to range between $175 million to $200 million and system capacity is expected to be up 3% from Q4 FY13. Commenting on future projection, Mr. Anderson stated that while the company has more work ahead to achieve its long-term financial goals, it expects a record Q4 FY14 with an operating margin of 10-12%.  He also added that for the full year, the company expects a pre-tax profit in excess of $4 billion. Delta Air Lines Inc.'s CEO added that the company has the right foundation in place for an even stronger 2015, proven strategies, and 80,000 employees who are the very best in the industry. Sign up and read the free analyst's notes on DAL at:

www.Investor-Edge.com/DAL-29102014

Delta Air Lines Inc. generated $910 million of free cash flow during Q3 FY14. With its strong cash generation, the company returned $325 million to shareholders through $75 million of cash dividends and $250 million of share repurchases. The company ended the quarter with $6.4 billion of unrestricted liquidity and adjusted net debt of $7.4 billion. Paul Jacobson, Delta's Chief Financial Officer, commented that the company's strong operating cash flow, combined with the disciplined capital spending, has resulted in $2.8 billion in free cash flow so far this year. He said that the company has used this cash flow to reduce its net debt levels by $2.0 billion, fund excess contributions of $250 million to its pension plans, and return more than $775 million to the owners through dividends and share repurchases. With another solid quarter of free cash flow generation ahead, Delta is on track to produce nearly $3.5 billion in free cash flow for 2014, he added.

Stock Performance 

On the day of the earnings release, October 16, 2014, Delta Air Lines Inc.'s stock ended the session at $33.32, gaining 2.90% for the day. On the last close, Tuesday, October 28, 2014; it finished at $39.84, 0.23% above its previous day's closing price, after vacillating between $39.47 and $40.15. A total of 13.19 million shares were traded, which was below its three months average volume of 14.06 million shares. Over the previous three trading sessions and last one month, the company's shares have advanced 5.06% and 9.09%, respectively. Also, the stock has surged 45.03% from the beginning of 2014. Shares in Delta Air Lines Inc. are trading above their 50-day and 200-day moving averages of $37.62 and $36.25, respectively. Furthermore, the stock traded at a PE ratio of 12.29 and has a Relative Strength Index (RSI) of 64.67. Visit Investor-Edge and access the latest research on DAL at:

www.Investor-Edge.com/DALEarningsCoverage

Sneak Peek to Corporate Insider Trading 

In the last one month, there was one insider transaction made by Richard H. Anderson, CEO and Director of Delta Air Lines Inc. On October 24, 2014, he sold 100,000 shares of the company at a price of $39.38 per share. Complimentary in-depth research on DAL is available at:

www.Investor-Edge.com/DALInsiderTrading

About Investor-Edge.com 

At Investor-Edge, we provide our members with a simple and reliable way to leverage our economy of scale. Most investors do not have time to track all publicly traded companies, much less perform an in-depth review and analysis of the complexities contained in each situation. That's where Investor-Edge comes in. We provide a single unified platform for investors' to hear about what matters. Situation alerts, moving events, and upcoming opportunities.

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EDITOR'S NOTES:

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