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United Airlines Holdings (NASDAQ:UAL) will report Q2 earnings on July 19. The airline giant is expected to report operating revenue of $13.93B and EPS of $4.05. United is seen as having a 85.2% load factor for the quarter off revenue passenger miles of 62.8B. Guidance from the Chicago-based carrier will feature an update on the new flights over the Pacific and Atlantic this year. Analysts are also looking for more details on the union contract with pilots and expected costs.
Morgan Stanley viewed United Airlines (UAL) favorably ahead of the report. “We believe capacity will likely come in lower than expected and costs a bit higher due to this disruption as we have seen a strong correlation between cancelation data and achieving capacity plans,” noted the firm. However, lower-than-expected fuel costs are anticipated to be a significant tailwind.
On Seeking Alpha, analyst Tim Dunn warned that United’s (UAL) operations have been significantly disrupted during the month of June, and more so than any other competitor. “Even before its operational disruptions in the latter half of the month, UAL was regularly cancelling a higher percentage of its flights at the beginning of the day than any other airline even if only 1-2% of flights; although airlines have traditionally been able to absorb low level cancellations on a sustained basis, the indications have been that United was pushing its system more than it could absorb,” he noted.
UAL has beat estimates on the revenue line in 6 of the last 8 quarters and topped EPS estimates in three straiht quarters. 13 of the last 14 EPS revisions from analysts have been to the upward side. Options trading on United (UAL) implies a share price swing of 5.2% following the report. Short interest on UAL is at 5.57% of total float.
