By Senad Karaahmetovic
Shares of American Airlines (NASDAQ:AAL) are trading about 3.5% higher in pre-market Thursday after the company reported preliminary earnings for the fourth quarter that crushed analyst expectations.
American expects to report adjusted EPS of $1.12 to $1.17, smashing the consensus for earnings of $0.60 per share and its prior guidance of $0.50-0.70. Revenue is expected to increase by 16-17% compared to Q4 2014, which is higher than the company’s prior guidance of up 11% to 13%.
AAL also said it flew 66.0 billion total available seat miles. This represents a 6.1% decrease versus Q4 2019 and is in line with the 5-7% decrease that American was expecting. Total revenue per available seat mile (TRASM) is expected to be up approximately 24% relative to Q4 2019, higher than the previous guidance of up 18% to 20%.
"The Company expects to end the fourth quarter with approximately $12 billion in total available liquidity, comprised of cash and short-term investments plus undrawn capacity under revolving and other credit facilities," American added in a business update.
Finally, the company said it has achieved more than half of its goal to reduce total debt by $15B by the end of 2025, with total debt down more than $7.5B in the first 18 months of the program.