DAL Q3 2019 Earnings

Call Details

• Call Title: Delta Air Lines, Inc. Q3 2019 Earnings Call
• Date: October 10, 2019 at 3:00 PM UTC
• Management Team:
  • Jill Greer (Vice President of Investor Relations)
  • Ed Bastian (Chief Executive Officer)
  • Glenn Hauenstein (President)
  • Paul Jacobson (Chief Financial Officer)
  • Gil West (SVP, Technical Operations)
  • Tim Mapes (Chief Marketing and Communications Officer)

Call Summary

Financial Performance

• Delta reported a September quarter pre-tax profit of $2.0B, which is up $350M from last year.
• Earnings per share for the quarter increased 30% to $2.32 per share versus prior year.
• Revenues grew 6.5% to a record $12.6B in the quarter.
• Year-to-date free cash flow generated $4.0B, meeting the full-year target in the first nine months.
• The September quarter pre-tax margin was 15.7%, two points higher than the prior year.
• Year-to-date top line has grown 8% and operating margins have expanded by over 200 basis points.

Guidance

• Full-year top-line growth is now expected to be approximately 7%.
• Full-year earnings per share guidance is for more than a 20% improvement over last year's EPS.
• December quarter EPS is expected to be in the range of $1.20 to $1.50 per share, equating to a pre-tax margin of 9.5% to 11.5%.
• December quarter all-in fuel price is forecast at $2.00 to $2.20 per gallon.
• For the full year, revenue is expected to grow about 7% on full-year capacity growth of 4.5%.
• Initial 2020 planning assumptions call for capacity growth of three to four points, with approximately one point related to the relaunch of service to India.