UPDATE: Spirit Airlines Q4 Profit Tops Estimates, Shares Gain

Shares of

rose more than 2.5% in pre-market trading after the company reported better-than-expected earnings for the fourth quarter. The Miramar, Florida-based company posted quarterly net income of $55.9 million, or $0.76 per share. Excluding non-recurring items, the company earned $0.80 per share. Its revenue climbed 13% to $474.5 million. However, analysts were estimating earnings of $0.78 per share on revenue of $477.66 million. Total revenue per available seat mile slipped 5.1% for the fourth quarter, while capacity surged 18.9%. Total revenue per passenger flight segment slipped 3.7% to $127.91. Adjusted pre-tax margin rose 4.3 percentage points to 19.7% in the quarter. The company ended 2014 with an unrestricted cash and cash equivalents balance of $632.8 million. "During 2014, we improved our customers' understanding of our Bare Fare(TM) plus Frill Control(TM) product design, which led to increased customer satisfaction, improved our financial results, and maintained a very high completion rate while improving our on-time performance by 600 basis points," said Ben Baldanza, Spirit's Chief Executive Officer. Spirit Airlines shares gained 2.59% to $77.98 in pre-market trading.