Shares fall as Delta's third-quarter update disappoints

Shares in Delta Air Lines came under pressure on Thursday, after third-quarter earnings and sales guidance disappointed.

The US carrier said it expected earnings to grow in the fourth quarter, boosted by strong bookings for end-of-year holidays.

It forecast adjusted earnings per share of between $1.60 and $1.85, and said it expected the period to be one of the most profitable fourth quarters in its history.

However, the lower range was below Wall Street expectations for EPS of $1.71 in the fourth quarter.

Delta also forecast an increase in fourth-quarter revenues of between 2% and 4%, below analyst estimates for a 4.1% jump. The carrier said it expected demand to dip around the US presidential election in early November.

The guidance came as Delta posted third-quarter revenues of $14.6bn, largely unchanged on the same period a year previously. Operating income fell 30% to $1.4bn, while diluted EPS declined 26% to $1.50.

Analysts had expected EPS of $1.52, and revenues of around $14.7bn.

The figures included the impact of the CrowdStrike-caused outage, which hit Microsoft Windows and resulted in thousands of cancelled flights.

The direct revenue impact of the incident was around $380m, after Delta refunded customers and provided compensation.

As at 1245 BST, the stock was down 5% in pre-market trading, having earlier lost more than 6%.

Ed Bastian, chief executive, said: “With an improving industry backdrop and strong demand for travel on Delta, we are positioned to finish the year strong.

“We expect our December quarter pre-tax profit to grow 30% over the last year to $1.4bn, which would mark one of the most profitable fourth quarters in our history.”