Delta Air Q3 Earnings Top Estimates

reported upbeat earnings for the third quarter on Wednesday. The Atlanta, Georgia-based reported quarterly net income of $1.32 billion, or $1.65 per share, compared to $357 million, or $0.42 per share, in the year-ago quarter. Excluding items, the company's adjusted earnings came in at $1.74 per share. Its revenue fell 0.6 percent to $11.11 billion. However, analysts were expecting earnings of $1.71 per share on revenue of $11.1 billion. The average estimate among 86 Estimize users was for earnings of $1.70 per share and revenue of $11.14 billion. Passenger unit revenue slipped 4.9 percent for the quarter. The company generated $1.4 billion of free cash flow and $2.4 billion of adjusted operating cash flow during the quarter. "Despite currency volatility and global economic uncertainty which drove a modest decline in revenues, we expanded operating margins by over five points to 21%, grew earnings per share by 45%, and generated $1.4 billion of free cash flow in the September quarter as demand remains solid and fuel prices have dropped materially. We expect that strong performance to continue in the December quarter with operating margins of 16 to 18% and over 40% earnings per share growth," said Richard Anderson, Delta's chief executive officer. For the fourth quarter, the company expects passenger unit sales to drop 4.5 percent to 2.5 percent and operating margin in range of 16 percent to 18 percent. Delta Air shares gained 2.24 percent to $48.80 in pre-market trading.