07-Aug-2009 3:15 PM

Alaska Air, US Airways fall, WestJet climbs despite challenging outlook

Analysis

The Dow fell 0.27% yesterday (06-Aug-09), as investors became cautious the day before the release of Jul-2009 employment statistics in the US. As a result, only two US carriers saw shares rise on the day: Southwest (+1.3%) and Allegiant (+0.8%).

WestJet (+3.4%) was the greatest gainer of the day, despite reporting a 40.7% decline in net earnings to CAD9.2 million (USD8.5 million) in 2Q2009. CEO, Sean Dufry, attributed the fall to "the weakened economy and aggressive pricing". The carrier's PRASM also dropped 15.4%, with a similar outlook expected for the third quarter. Air Canada's B shares were also up, after reporting improved load factor and plans to further cut costs the day before.

Southwest's (+1.3%) shares also increased, after reporting a 6.9 ppts year-on-year increase in load factor to 83.2% for Jul-2009. The carrier's traffic (RPMs) was up 5.2%, on a 3.6% reduction in capacity, as passenger traffic fell 0.1% to 8 million passengers during the month.

Alaska Airlines (-7.5%) and US Airways (-6.1%) took the largest dives, despite both reporting improved load factors earlier in the week.

Delta Air Lines (-0.4%) and Hawaiian Airlines (-1.2%) also fell, despite reporting improved load factors yesterday. Delta's load factor rose 1.0 ppts in Jul-2009 to 87.7%, while Hawaiian reported a 6.5 ppts rise in load factor for the same period, to 85.2%

North & South America selected airlines daily share price movements (% change): 06-Aug-09

Continental announces pricing for public offering

Continental Airlines (-2.4) announced the pricing of a public offering of 14.4 million shares of its Class B Common Stock, with the issuance and delivery of the shares to occur on 12-Aug-2009. Goldman Sachs is acting as sole underwriter for the offering.

Alaska Air, US Airways fall, WestJet climbs despite challenging outlook

Continental announces pricing for public offering

Want More Analysis Like This?