Shares of Delta Air Lines closed lower in Wednesday’s trading session after it posted its third-quarter 2021 report.
The Atlanta-based carrier sharply dropped 5.76% or 2.51 points to $41.03 per share.
Accordingly, the July to September results came in higher than analysts’ estimates.
Subsequently, the adjusted earnings per share (EPS) increased to $0.30 from the expected $0.25.
In addition, its revenue hiked to $9.20 billion from the forecasted figure of $8.40 billion.
Correspondingly, its load factor, the percentage of available seats filled with paying passengers, surpassed the market’s projection. It jumped to 80.00% from the estimated rate of 77.70%.
Moreover, the airline capacity recovered 80.00% relative to the same period last year.
However, Delta Air Lines shares plunged after it warned that soaring fuel prices would weigh down its 4Q bottom line.
Additionally, fuel costs could climb from $2.25 to $2.40 from the current price of $1.97 a gallon.
According to the firm, every $0.05 increase significantly drives an expense of about $40.00 million.
Furthermore, understaffing hurt most of the major airlines as travel demand hiked on the drop of Delta virus cases.
This year, the airline hired 8,000 new employees and would continue to expand its workforce by 2022.
Delta Air lines is the first in the industry to report its third-quarter results. Its fourth-quarter earnings report will be available on January 12, 2022.
Meanwhile, United Airlines plummeted 3.60% or 1.79 points to $47.88 per share.
At the same time, American Airlines lost 3.35% or 0.68 points to $19.61 per share.
Likewise, Southwest Airlines curtailed 1.78% or 0.93 points to $51.25 per share.
US Stocks Up as Delta Air Lines Fell
Subsequently, the S&P 500 index improved 0.30% or 13.15 points to $4,363.80 per share.
Also, the benchmark Nasdaq Composite widened 0.73% or 105.71 points to $14,571.64 per share.
Similarly, the Dow Jones Industrial Average index slightly shed 0.001% or 0.53 points to $34,377.81 per share.
Consequently, most of the highly-valued tech stocks posted gains as Delta Air Lines slumped.
For instance, Amazon.com inched up 1.14% or 36.95 points to $3,284.28 per share.
Likewise, Alphabet A rose 0.83% or 22.70 points to $2,751.60 per share.
Then, Netflix enhanced 0.77% or 4.82 points to $629.76 per share.
It is the same with Facebook as it elevated 0.24% or 0.77 points to $324.54 per share.
