JetBlue reports wider-than-expected loss as revenue misses; stock slips

JetBlue Airways Corp. swung to a wider-than-expected loss on revenue that fell more than forecast, as the COVID-19 pandemic led to a significant drop in demand in March. The air carrier's stock slipped 0.3% in premarket trading, after falling 20.8% amid a 5-day losing streak through Wednesday. The net loss was $268 million, or 97 cents a share, after net income of $42 million, or 14 cents a share, in the year-ago period. Excluding non-recurring items, such as impairment charges related to the decline in demand caused by the coronavirus pandemic, the adjusted loss per share was 42 cents vs. EPS of 16 cents a year ago, compared with the FactSet loss consensus of 30 cents. Revenue fell 15.1% to $1.59 billion, below the FactSet consensus of $1.70 billion, as revenue in March alone dropped 52%. Load factor fell 69.8% from 82.5%, as traffic dropped 18.4% and capacity fell 3.5%; capacity in March alone fell 19%. JetBlue said it expects to reduce its daily cash burn to an average of just below $10 million a day in May from an average of $18 million in the second half of March, excluding the CARES Act support of about $5 million a day through the end of the third quarter. The stock has tumbled 59.8% over the past three months through Wednesday, while U.S. Global Jets ETF has shed 58.8% and the S&P 500 has lost 14.4%.

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