JetBlue Airways Backs FY23 Outlook

(RTTNews) - Announcing an operational and financial update of its expected first quarter 2023 results on Tuesday, JetBlue Airways Corp. (JBLU) said it has maintained its strong operational performance with a solid completion factor of over 98% quarter-to-date.

JetBlue said it continues to experience robust travel demand trends, which strengthened into Presidents' Day weekend and beyond. It is also seeing very strong demand in our core leisure and visiting friends and relatives (VFR) markets.

The airline added that strong performance on revenue and execution on costs are largely being offset by an increase in fuel prices, which is primarily driven by volatility in regional jet fuel prices.

For the first quarter, the company continues to expect a loss in the range of $0.45 to $0.35 per share, but now projects revenue growth of 32 to 35 percent, up from the prior guidance for a growth of 28 to 32 percent.

On average, analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expect the company to report a loss of $0.41 per share on revenue growth of 30.8 percent to $2.27 billion for the quarter. Analysts' estimates typically exclude special items.

Looking ahead to fiscal 2023, the company continues to project adjusted earnings in a range of $0.70 to $1 per share on revenue growth in high single digits to low double digit rates.

The Street is looking for earnings of $0.44 per share on revenue growth of 10.0 percent to $10.08 billion for the year.