Southwest Airlines (LUV)

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Southwest Soars Past Expectations

Source: Dow Jones News
Southwest Airlines Co. said profit jumped 78% in its latest quarter, reflecting the boon of low fuel prices in the airline industry.

The No. 4 U.S. airline by traffic also followed through on an earlier prediction that lagging revenue would pick up in the third quarter and registered a nearly 11% jump in its top line.

Southwest and its U.S. airline peers have reported strong financial results in recent quarters, the result of slower growth, less competition and cheaper fuel. Southwest continued the trend, as fuel and oil expense dropped 32% in the latest quarter. Still, some signs have pointed to investor concerns that the sector's windfall will not be sustainable if and when oil prices rebound.

Southwest's unit revenue—the amount it takes in per seat flown a mile—declined 4% in the quarter compared with a year ago, a small improvement from the 4.6% posted in the prior three months. Analysts and investors closely watch the metric as a sign of demand and how well an airline is generating sales. Unit revenues have been declining across the industry because of relatively rapid expansions.

Capacity increased 7.6%, while load factor inched up to 85.4% from 84.4% a year earlier.

Overall, the company posted a profit of $584 million, or 88 cents a share, up from $329 million or 48 cents a share a year earlier. Excluding certain items, earnings on a per-share basis rose to 94 cents a share from 55 cents a year earlier.

Revenue climbed 10.8% to $5.32 billion.