On Thursday, JetBlue reported a fourth quarter net income of $161M, a quarterly diluted earnings per share of $0.56. For the full year, the company reported a net income of $569M or a diluted earnings per share of $1.91.
Today JetBlue Airways Corporation (NASDAQ: JBLU) announced their fourth quarter and full year financial results. The airline reported a 4.9% year-over-year (YoY) decline in net income for the fourth quarter to $161M, while the diluted earnings per share (EPS) came in at $0.56. For the full year, JetBlue reported a net income of $569M and a diluted EPS of $1.91, versus a net income of $189M and EPS of $0.60 for 2018. In Thursday’s announcement, JetBlue’s Chief Executive Officer, Robin Hayes said,
“I could not be prouder of the accomplishments of the JetBlue family over two decades. Over 20 years, we have become a ‘force for good’ in our industry. We have worked hard to improve our balance sheet, expand and strengthen our network, and have made investments in our fleet to improve margins and returns. More recently, we focused our efforts to reset our cost structure – and return to our roots as a low-cost airline. 2019 saw an unusually volatile year in our Latin and Caribbean markets, which masked some of the progress we have made in our ‘building blocks.’ We are confident in our plan to strengthen our RASM and expect over two thirds of our revenue initiatives will mature throughout this year. Our progress is showing a significant sequential improvement in our expected RASM growth for the first quarter of 2020. We are pleased that our business is responding to the actions we’ve been taking in our network, and this year we expect to continue reaping the benefits of our commercial actions. This gives us confidence in our ability to deliver our 2020 EPS goals.”
During the fourth quarter, revenue per available seat mile (RASM) declined 2.7% YoY, while cost per available seat mile, excluding fuel (CASM-ex) remained flat. For the full year, RASM declined 0.9%, while CASM-ex increased 0.8% versus 2018. JetBlue ended the year with $1.3B in unrestricted cash and equivalents.
The company expects a first quarter 2020 EPS of between $0.10 and $0.20 and an EPS of between $2.50 and $3.00 for the full year. In the first quarter of 2020, RASM growth is expected to range between 0.0% and 3.0%, while CASM-ex is expected to increase between 1.5% and 3.5% versus Q1 2019. However, the company expects full-year CASM-ex to range from 0.0% to a decline of 2.0%, when compared to 2019. In trading on Thursday, shares of JetBlue Airways Corporation (NASDAQ: JBLU) closed 6.44% higher at $21.07/share.
Source: JetBlue Airways