Copa Holdings (CPA) Reports Impressive Rise In July Traffic

Latin American carrier Copa Holdings, S.A. (NYSE:CPA) posted a substantial rise in traffic for July. Traffic — measured in revenue passenger miles (RPMs) — came in at 1.91 billion, up 17.2% from 1.63 billion reported a year ago.

On a year-over-year basis, consolidated capacity (or available seat miles/ASMs) climbed 15.1% to 2.18 billion. As the increase in traffic outpaced growth in capacity, the load factor (% of seats filled by passengers) rose 150 basis points (bps) to 87.6% in the month.

For the first seven months of 2017, Copa Holdings generated RPMs of 11.42 billion (up 12.9% year over year) and ASMs of 13.78 billion (up 7.7%). Load factor registered growth of 380 bps year over year to 82.8% during the period.

Copa Holdings recently reported second-quarter 2017 earnings numbers. The carrier’s second-quarter earnings per share (on an adjusted basis) of $1.48 beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $1.42. The bottom line also comfortably surpassed the year-ago count of 51 cents. Quarterly revenues improved 16.8% year over year to $578.1 million, beating the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $548 million.

Latin American carrier GOL Linhas (NYSE:GOL) too reported second-quarter earnings around the same time. The airline’s second-quarter 2017 earnings per share of 24 cents compared favorably with the Zacks Consensus Estimate of a loss of 60 cents. Net revenues, comprising cargo and passenger revenues, came in at $696.2 million (R$2.2 billion), significantly up year over year.

Copa Holdings, S.A. Price

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Zacks Rank & Key Picks

Copa Holdings currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). Some better-ranked stocks in airline space are Air France-KLM SA (OTC:AFLYY) and Deutsche Lufthansa (DE:LHAG) AG (OTC:DLAKY) , both sporting a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

Shares of Air France-KLM and Deutsche Lufthansa have gained more than 100% in a year.

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