TxAgKuwait From United States of America, joined Aug 1999, 1803 posts, RR: 51 Reply 1, posted (4 years 1 month 1 week 5 days 19 hours ago) and read 3388 times:
They'll be okay.
Yield is up 07 vs 06. Load factor is up 07 vs 06.
The often maligned Business Select seems to be generating more revenue than I would have ever given it credit for.
They may, in fact, post the first QUARTERLY loss in Q1 2007 that they have had since (I think) Q1 1991.
Their labor costs, while higher than I would like....are still offset somewhat by personnel productivity. They get more done with fewer employees.
Look for Q1 to range from a loss of .03 to a profit of .05 per share.
They'll make money the rest of the year. It almost seems like they've caught enough extra business during the American cancellations to make up for some small 1st quarter deficit. It has been impossible to get a seat on them from DAL to MDW all week long.
ScottB From United States of America, joined Jul 2000, 6093 posts, RR: 38 Reply 3, posted (4 years 1 month 1 week 5 days 17 hours ago) and read 3148 times:
Quoting OOer (Thread starter): Southwest Airlines Co. says its 2008 fuel bill will rise more than $500 million - nearly equal to its entire profit last year.
Well, unfortunately the CNN article makes the common (especially on airliners.net) mistake of comparing the fuel cost (which would be applied to operating profit/loss) and the net profit (or loss). If Southwest had paid $500 million more for fuel last year, their operating profit would have been in the neighborhood of $300 million, since their 2007 operating profit was $791 million; higher fuel costs would have been offset somewhat by lower profit-sharing paid to the company's employees. In terms of net, the 2007 numbers would probably have been around $300 million instead of $645 million.
Counter to intuition, due to high fuel prices, the company will very likely post a 2008Q1 net profit due to mark-to-market valuations on fuel hedges settling in future periods (i.e. they have to revalue the hedges on the balance sheet to reflect their current value). Now, the operating number could go either way; yields have been higher but fuel costs have gone up even faster. Having Easter in March this year might well have been the difference between profit and loss. Loads have been higher this year, and I expect that their yields have also increased as most other carriers have seen. A quarterly loss in either Q1 or Q4 this year is certainly possible.
Very serious economic deterioration would have to happen to push Southwest into an annual loss this year -- and those sorts of conditions would probably lead to one or more of the network carriers to fail entirely.
OOer From United States of America, joined Oct 2005, 1290 posts, RR: 2 Reply 4, posted (4 years 1 month 1 week 5 days 17 hours ago) and read 3129 times:
So you are saying that for Q1 there is a possibility of WN posting an operating loss, however with the hedging gains it will most definetely be an overall profit. Yes?
ScottB From United States of America, joined Jul 2000, 6093 posts, RR: 38 Reply 5, posted (4 years 1 month 1 week 5 days 16 hours ago) and read 3053 times:
Quoting OOer (Reply 4): So you are saying that for Q1 there is a possibility of WN posting an operating loss, however with the hedging gains it will most definetely be an overall profit. Yes?
Pretty much, yes. It really depends on how their 1Q yields looked. The current analyst estimates (which I believe exclude paper items like mark-to-market hedge gains as Southwest treats them) are for a paper-thin profit.
OOer From United States of America, joined Oct 2005, 1290 posts, RR: 2 Reply 6, posted (4 years 1 month 1 week 5 days 7 hours ago) and read 2630 times:
When does WN have their Q1 results conference call?
Txagkuwait From United States of America, joined Aug 1999, 1803 posts, RR: 51 Reply 7, posted (4 years 1 month 1 week 5 days 4 hours ago) and read 2478 times:
Quote: When does WN have their Q1 results conference call?
Historically, they release their Q1 numbers on 20 April, plus or minus 2 days.
DaCubbyBearBar From United States of America, joined Apr 2008, 76 posts, RR: 0 Reply 8, posted (4 years 1 month 1 week 5 days 3 hours ago) and read 2381 times:
April 17, 2008 at 11:30am Eastern time per an email they sent me yesterday. Hope that helps.
Go Cubs Go Hey Chicago whaddya say the Cubs are gonna win today
KELPkid From United States of America, joined Nov 2005, 5609 posts, RR: 4 Reply 9, posted (4 years 1 month 1 week 5 days 3 hours ago) and read 2323 times:
I'm sure having a $10 million bill courtesy of the FAA did nothing to help matters...
Celebrating the birth of KELPkidJR on August 5, 2009 :-)
DesertAir From Mexico, joined Jan 2006, 1331 posts, RR: 0 Reply 10, posted (4 years 1 month 1 week 5 days 1 hour ago) and read 2167 times:
I would suspect that WN will monitor its flights closely and right size markets and reconfigure staffing. I would not be surpised if they asked loyal WN flyers and employees how to continue to make a profit in this difficult economic climate.
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