Southwest Airlines (LUV) Grapples With Rising Expenses
Southwest Airlines Co. (LUV) continues to grapple with rising expenses. Escalating fuel prices represent a concern. For third-quarter 2023, economic fuel costs per gallon are expected to be between $2.55 and $2.65. For 2023, economic fuel costs per gallon are now estimated to be in the range of $2.70-$2.80 (prior view: $2.60-$2.70). Fuel expenses continue to act as a major concern for the company's bottom line.
Apart from the increase in fuel costs, a rise in labor and airport costs is likely to dent bottom-line growth by resulting in a spike in operating expenses. In second-quarter 2023, consolidated unit cost or cost per available seat mile (CASM) excluding fuel, oil and profit-sharing expenses, and special items increased 7.5% year over year. Due to an increase in labor and airport costs, as well as lower productivity levels, LUV expects CASM, excluding fuel, oil and profit-sharing expenses, and special items, to increase 3.5-6.5% in the third quarter of 2023 from the comparable period in 2022.
Partly due to these headwinds, shares of Southwest Airlines have declined 6.4% so far this year against 12.7% growth of the industry it belongs to.
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Despite such tailwinds,continued recovery in air-travel demand (mainly on the leisure front) bodes well for Southwest Airlines. In the second quarter of 2023, air traffic, measured in revenue passenger miles, jumped 9.2% year over year to 35.50 billion. Capacity or available seat miles (ASMs) climbed 14.1% year over year to 42.58 billion. Load factor (percentage of seats filled by passengers) came in at 83.4%. Anticipating the trend to continue for third-quarter 2023, ASMs are estimated to improve 12% from the year-ago reported figure. For 2023, Southwest continues to expect capacity to improve 14-15% from the 2022 level.
Currently, Southwest Airlines carries a Zacks Rank #5 (Strong Sell).
Investors interested in better-ranked stocks from the Zacks Transportation – Airline industry can consider United Airlines (UAL) and SkyWest, Inc. (SKYW). United Airlines presently sports a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), while SkyWest carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.
United Airlines has an expected earnings growth rate of more than 100% for the current year. UAL delivered a trailing four-quarter earnings surprise of 21.44%, on average.
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for UAL’s current-year earnings has improved 18.9% over the past 90 days. Shares of UAL have soared 34.5% year to date.
SkyWest's fleet-modernization efforts are commendable.A fall in operating expenses is a tailwind for SkyWest. In second-quarter 2023, the metric dipped 2.4% to $693.8 million due to a decline in operating costs. Low operating expenses boost bottom-line results. Shares of SKYW have surged 144.6% year to date.
SKYW delivered a trailing four-quarter earnings surprise of 31.51%, on average.
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