Atlas Air stock rallies after big gains, with strength in airline operations

Shares of Atlas Air Worldwide Holdings AAWW,
rose 1.5% in premarket trading on Thursday, after the provider of aircraft and outsourced aviation services reported fourth-quarter earnings well above expectations amid strength in its operating business. Airlines companies. Net income fell to $176.7 million, or $5.55 per share, from $184.0 million, or $6.15 per share, a year ago. Excluding one-time items, adjusted earnings per share rose from $4.83 to $7.05, beating the FactSet consensus of $6.15. Revenue rose 24.7% to $1.16 billion, above the FactSet consensus of $1.11 billion. Airline operating revenue rose 25.5% to $1.13 billion, reflecting an increase in the average rate per block hour, while hullless rental revenue rose 0.1% to reach $46.7 million. “The higher average rate per block hour was primarily due to an increased proportion of higher yielding flights, including the impact of new and extended long-term contracts, the continued reduction in cargo capacity available in the market , continued disruption to global supply chains, as well as higher fuel costs,” the company said. For the first quarter, the company expects revenue of approximately $1.0 billion. dollars, higher than the FactSet consensus of $959 million.The stock has fallen 10.8% in the past three months, while the Dow Jones Transportation Average DJT,
lost 7.6% and the S&P 500 SPX,
fell 4.6%.