Delta’s fourth-quarter earnings top expectations, revenue in line

Delta Air Lines posted fourth-quarter earnings slightly higher than Wall Street’s expectations on Tuesday.

The Atlanta-based carrier earned an adjusted $1.30 a share, compared with $1.27 expected by analysts polled by Refinitiv.

Delta’s net income grew more than threefold to $1 billion during the last three months of 2018 from $299 million a year earlier, the company said. Its total revenue rose to $10.74 billion during the fourth quarter, in line with analysts’ forecasts and up 5 percent from $10.23 billion during the same period in 2017.

Its shares dropped 2 percent in premarket trading.

Delta’s revenue per passenger, a key industry metric, rose 3.2 percent in the three months ended in December from the year-earlier period, slightly higher than the 3 percent forecast earlier this month.

Investors have sent airline stocks tumbling in recent weeks on concerns that some carriers aren’t growing revenue as quickly as previously expected. Delta shares are down more than 20 percent over the past 12 months.

The airline’s executives are holding a call with analysts at 10 a.m. ET.

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