Delta Airlines, Inc. (NYSE: DAL) is scheduled to report its third quarter financial results on Wednesday before the markets open. The consensus estimates from Thomson Reuters call for $1.71 in earnings per share (EPS) on $11.12 billion in revenue. The same period from the previous year had $1.20 in EPS on $11.18 billion in revenue.
This company has consistently ranked high with Wall Street. Delta and the regional Delta Connection carriers offer service to 334 destinations in 64 countries on six continents. Atlanta-based Delta employs nearly 80,000 employees worldwide and operates a mainline fleet of more than 700 aircraft. Wall Street analysts have long lauded that Delta has the most extensive hedging policy among the airlines and owns and operates a refinery in addition to a sizable hedging book. The airline has participated in 80% of the price decline since last year and was expected to have an estimated $160 million in hedging gains for 2014.
China Eastern Airlines and Delta recently signed an agreement to expand their partnership and better connect Delta’s global network with China Eastern, one of the leading airlines in China. The agreement will include a $450 million investment by Delta to acquire a 3.55% stake in China Eastern.
Before Delta reported its third quarter results, a few analysts weighed in on this major airline:
- Morgan Stanley reiterated an Overweight rating with a $62 price target.
- Sterne Agee CRT reiterated a Buy rating and raised its price target to $65 from $60.
- Deutsche Bank reiterated a Buy rating and raised its price target to $51 from $50.
So far in 2015 Delta has been relatively flat year to date, but over the past 52-weeks the stock is up nearly 49%.
Shares of Delta were down 1.1% at $47.97 on Tuesday afternoon. The stock has a consensus analyst price target of $60.27 and a 52-week trading range of $30.43 to $51.06.
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