American Airlines Group Q1 EPS Tops Estimations

American Airlines Group Inc AAL said that its net profit, excluding special items, was $765 million, or $1.25 per share for the first quarter, which came in above the Street expectations of $1.19 a share. In comparison, excluding special items, its net profit for the year-ago quarter was $1.2 billion, or $1.73 per share.

The company disclosed that its recent first quarter included a provision for income taxes of $456 million, of which $453 million was non-cash. On a GAAP basis, the its net profit was $700 million, or $1.14 per share, still down from $932 million or $1.30 per share in the comparable period.

Following the news, the stock was down by 1.2 percent in pre-market trading.

American Airlines' total operating revenues fell 4 percent to $9.44 billion from $9.83 billion in the previous year quarter. However, this was in line with the Street analysts' predictions. While cargo witnessed 16.8 percent drop, mainline passenger revenue fell 6.1 percent, which were partly offset by 4.9 percent growth in regional passenger segment.

The company's Chairman and CEO, Dough Parker, commented "We are pleased to report a first quarter pre-tax profit of $1.2 billion, excluding special items, and a 15 percent improvement in adjusted earnings per share. These results include a $73 million accrual related to the system-wide profit sharing plan we announced earlier this quarter. The people of American are doing an outstanding job of taking care of our customers and are the key to our future success."

The airline firm claimed that it returned $1.6 billion to its shareholders by way dividend and share repurchases.