JetBlue Airways Corporation (NASDAQ: JBLU) reported third quarter earnings today with GAAP pre-tax income of $254M vs. $68M in the third quarter of 2018. Adjusted pre-tax income was up 32% to $239M vs. $180M in 2018.
In today’s earnings report JetBlue announced a pre-tax income of $254M on revenue of $2.086B, with an adjusted pre-tax income of $239M, up 32% over Q3 2018. Reported diluted EPS came in at $0.63 vs. $0.16 in Q3 2018, while adjusted diluted earnings were $0.59 compared to $0.42 in the same period last year. Pre-tax margin improved to 12.2%, up from 3.4% and adjusted pre-tax margin is reported at 11.4% compared to 9.0% during Q3 2018. Revenue per available seat mile (RASM) declined year-over-year (YoY) by (0.9%), around the midpoint of the initial guidance range. Costs per available sear mile, excluding fuel (CASM-ex) increased 0.3%, below the guidance range of 0.5 to 2.5%.
Fourth Quarter and Full Year Guidance
JetBlue expects to increase Q4 capacity by between 4.5% and 6.5% (YoY), with a full year capacity increase from 6.0 and 7.0%. In the fourth quarter, RASM is expected to decline between (3.5%) and (0.5%) YOY and CASM-ex is expected to come in between (1.0%) and 1.0%. Full year CASM-ex is expected to increase from 0.5% to 1%. In today's report, JetBlue Chief Executive Officer, Robin Hayes stated,
“I want to thank all the teams at JetBlue for executing our plan to create long-term value for our customers and owners. We are gaining traction on all of the strategic “Building Blocks” we laid out in our last Investor Day. We are just beginning to see the benefits of our revenue, cost, fleet and capital allocation efforts, with additional opportunities ahead of us. Despite some near-term pressures on revenue in our international markets and NEO delays, we believe we are on track to deliver on our goal of $2.50 to 3.00 dollars EPS in 2020.”
Source: JetBlue Airways