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Copa Airlines beats 3Q2010 analyst expectations; Expressjet traffic grows 20%; FedEx slips

Analysis

Copa Airlines (+1.0%) gained for Thursday (11-Nov-2010) as North and South American airline stocks ended trading mixed. Copa's gains came ahead of releasing its 3Q2010 financial results. After trading, the carrier posted a 48.2% year-on-year rise in net income for the quarter, to USD63.9 million, or earnings per share (EPS) of USD1.45.

Operating income was also up for the period, rising 54.1% to USD70.7 million. This was on the back of a 11.8% rise in operating revenue to USD362.0 million.

The results beat analyst expectations. According to TradersHuddle.com, Wall Street analysts expected a profit of USD1.24 a share on USD364.11 million revenue.

Yield per RPM for 3Q2010 decreased 1.4% to USD 15.7 cents, but adjusted for length of haul, yields remained flat. Compared with 2Q2010, yields increased 3.0%.

For 3Q2010, consolidated load factor decreased 0.3 ppts to 75.5%, as consolidated passenger traffic (RPMs) grew 13.3% on 13.8% capacity (ASMs) increase. Compared with 2Q2010, load factor increased 2.4 ppts.

See related CAPA Profile: Financial Results

Expressjet traffic grows 20%

Expressjet (+0.1%) made only a slight gain, after reporting a 2.5 ppt year-on-year rise in load factor to 81.2%. The rise was the result of a 20% improvement in traffic (RPMs), outweighing the 16% increase in capacity (ASMs).

See related CAPA Profile: Air Freight

FedEx expecting year-on-year rise in shipments from busiest day of 2009

FedEx Corp (-0.6%) slipped despite announcing it expects to transport 16 million shipments around the world on 13-Dec-2010. It is an approximate 11% increase from its busiest day in 2009 when the company handled 14.2 million shipments. FedEx forecasts more than 223.3 million shipments will move through its global networks between Thanksgiving and Christmas.

Elsewhere, JetBlue (-1.7%) also declined after Citigroup cut its rating of the carrier from "hold" to "buy". It also lowered its price target from USD8 to USD7, but maintained its EPS estimates of USD0.42 for 2010 and USD0.66 for 2011. Air Canada (-3.4%) and Republic Airways (-2.5%) were also down.

American Airlines (+2.5%) and United Continental Holdings (+1.3%) were among the top gainers for the day.

North & South America selected airlines daily share price movements (% change): 11-Nov-2010

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