© Reuters Spirit Airlines (SAVE) misses estimates as demand shifts to long-haul international travel
Low-cost carrier Spirit Airlines (NYSE:) is down around 0.5% premarket after missing second-quarter consensus earnings and revenue expectations.
The airline earnings of $0.29, $0.10 worse than the analyst estimate of $0.39, while revenue for the quarter came in at $1.43 billion versus the consensus estimate of $1.47B.
The company revealed that demand for the peak summer travel period has been softer than expected, resulting in lower fare levels on the routes they serve. SAVE’s president and CEO, Ted Christie, stated that demand is shifting towards long-haul international travel. However, Spirit only serves North, Central, and South America and the Caribbean.
Christie also said difficult weather and challenging Air Traffic Control initiatives are also creating a significant headwind to unit revenue.
“Once the international summer travel season ends and kids go back to school, we anticipate that demand will shift back towards domestic. This should mean a more normal pricing and demand environment for the peak holiday travel periods in the fourth quarter,” he explained.
The company expects its Q3 operating margin to range between -5.5% and -7.5% due to productivity headwinds, primarily related to pilot constraints and NEO engine availability issues, and an acute reduction in the domestic and Latin America demand outlook.
Reacting to the report, Deutsche Bank analysts said they see a “meaningful downside risk” to SAVE’s September quarter EPS estimates.
Meanwhile, Citi analysts said the report provided a difficult guide and weaker-than-expected Q2 print.
“Overall, the results and guide looked weak, with a shift away from domestic and short-haul international travel impacting summer demand, while challenges related to NEO engine availability issues also seems to be hurting capacity deployment into 3Q,” the analysts wrote.
“Assuming risk-neutral market conditions, these results could modestly pressure Neutral-rated Spirit’s shares on Thursday morning.”
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