United Continental Q1 Profit Beats Views

reported better-than-expected earnings for the first quarter on Thursday. The Chicago, Illinois-based company reported a quarterly profit of $508 million, or $1.32 per share, versus a year-ago loss of $609 million, or $1.66 per share. Excluding special items, the company earned $1.52 per share. Its revenue slipped 1 percent to $8.61 billion. However, analysts were projecting earnings of $1.44 per share on revenue of $8.62 billion. Its passenger revenue per available seat mile rose 0.4 percent year-over-year. Traffic increased 0.1 percent, while load factor came in at 81.1 percent. UAL ended the quarter with $7.0 billion in unrestricted liquidity. The average estimate among 10 Estimize users was for earnings of $1.29 per share and revenue of $8.63 billion. Jeff Smisek, UAL's chairman, president and chief executive officer said, "We continued to improve our operational reliability and deliver products that enhance our customers' experience, including new aircraft, improved food, new inflight entertainment options and modern facilities. We are making significant progress on our long-term plan to reduce costs, improve our margins and grow our earnings, and expect our second quarter pre-tax margin to be between 12 and 14 percent, excluding special items." United Continental shares fell 0.63 percent to $63.61 at 11:00 a.m. ET.