Shares of Delta Air Lines Inc. surged toward a more-than two-year high Thursday, after the air carrier reported second-quarter profit and revenue that rose above forecast, and boosted its full-year outlook citing continued “robust” travel demand.
Delta
DAL,
said net income more than doubled to $1.83 billion, or $2.84 a share, from $735 million, or $1.15 a share, in the year-ago period.
Excluding nonrecurring items, adjusted earnings per share of $2.68 beat the FactSet consensus of $2.40.
Revenue grew 12.7% to $15.78 billion, well above the FactSet consensus of $14.44 billion,
For 2023, the company raised its EPS guidance range to $6 to $7 from $5 to $6, and increased its outlook for free cash flow to $3 billion from $2 billion.
The stock jumped 3.5% in premarket trading, putting it on track to open at the highest price seen during regular-sessions hours since April 2021.
“Consumer demand for air travel remains robust,” said Chief Executive Ed Bastian.
Traffic increased 18.0% to 60.80 billion revenue passenger miles while capacity grew 17.1% to 68.99 billion available seat miles. Load factor improved one percentage point to 88%, to beat the FactSet consensus of 87.2%.
The stock has run up 42.1% over the past three months through Wednesday, while the U.S. Global Jets exchange-traded fund
JETS,
has climbed 22.1% and the S&P 500 index
SPX,
has gained 9.3%.