UPDATE: United Continental Q2 Profit Beats Expectations, Shares Surge

United Continental Holdings

reported a 68% rise in its second-quarter profit. The Chicago, Illinois-based company posted a quarterly profit of $789 million, or $2.01 per share, versus a year-ago profit of $469 million, or $1.21 per share. Excluding special items, it earned $2.34 per share, versus $1.57 per share. Its revenue climbed 3.3% to $10.33 billion. However, analysts were projecting earnings of $2.16 per share on revenue of $10.31 billion. United Continental's passenger traffic rose 0.6%, while capacity declined 0.1%. The percentage of seats filled rose to 85.3% versus 84.9%, while passenger revenue per available seat mile surged 3.7%. United Continental announced its plans to launch a $1 billion share repurchase program. It also generated $1.5 billion of operating cash flow in the quarter. Jeff Smisek, UAL's chairman, president and chief executive officer said, "I am encouraged by the solid progress we made in the second quarter. Our team is focused on improving our operations and service and on continuing to improve year-over-year revenue performance and cost control." United Continental shares gained 5.35% to $48.46 in pre-market trading.