American Airlines Shares Dip After Soft Outlook Overshadows Q4 Earnings

Key Insights:

* American Airlines (AAL) stock fell premarket Thursday amid a disappointing outlook despite stronger-than-expected Q4 results.
* The airline anticipates a wider first-quarter loss than analyst projections for fiscal 2025.
* AAL's full-year adjusted EPS forecast also falls short of estimates.

Q4 Earnings Results:

* AAL reported a Q4 net income of $590 million ($0.84 per share) on $13.66 billion in revenue.
* Analysts had forecast $426 million ($0.60 per share) in profit on $13.39 billion in revenue (per Visible Alpha).

Dimmed Outlook:

* Due to demand trends and fuel cost projections, American expects a Q1 2025 adjusted loss of 20-40 cents per share.
* Visible Alpha consensus estimates pegged the loss at 1 cent per share.
* The full-year adjusted EPS forecast ranges from $1.70 to $2.70, with a midpoint of $2.20 below the consensus of $2.35.

Industry Comparison:

* American's performance trails rivals Delta Air Lines (DAL) and United Airlines (UAL), which provided more optimistic outlooks and highlighted growth in premium offerings.
* AAL stock dropped 7% premarket despite gaining one-third of its value over the past year. United and Delta shares have seen gains of 166% and 78%, respectively.