United Airlines Q3 Earnings: Revenue Beat, EPS Beat, $1.5B Buyback — 'Clear Inflection Point'

United Airlines Holdings Inc UAL reported third-quarter financial results after the market close on Tuesday. Here’s a rundown of the report.

Q3 Earnings: United Airlines reported third-quarter revenue of $14.843 billion, beating the consensus estimate of $14.783 billion, according to Benzinga Pro. The airline company reported adjusted earnings of $3.33 per share, beating analyst estimates of $3.13 per share.

Capacity was up 4.1% on a year-over-year basis. TRASM (total revenue per available seat mile) was down 1.6% while CASM (cost per available seat mile) was up 0.1%. United said this was its busiest third quarter as measured by revenue passenger volumes in company history.

United noted it generated $7.2 billion in operating cash flow and $3.4 billion in free cash flow year-to-date. The airline company ended the quarter with $17.1 billion in total liquidity and $25.7 billion in total debt and finance lease obligations.

“As predicted, unproductive capacity left the market in mid-August, and we saw a clear inflection point in our revenue trends that propelled United to exceed third-quarter expectations,” said Scott Kirby, CEO of United Airlines.

“A prosperous summer 2024 is just the beginning as our improved customer experience combined with United Next positions the airline at the top of the industry for the foreseeable future.”

United’s board approved a new share repurchase program of up to $1.5 billion of common stock and warrants originally issued to the U.S. Treasury under the CARES Act and Payroll Support Program.

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Outlook: United Airlines expects fourth-quarter adjusted earnings to be in the range of $2.50 to $3 per share versus estimates of $3.17 per share, according to Benzinga Pro. The company said it continues to expect full-year 2024 adjusted capital expenditures to be less than $6.5 billion.

Management will hold a conference call to further discuss these results Wednesday morning at 10:30 a.m. ET.

UAL Price Action: United Airlines shares were up 0.54% in after-hours, trading at $64.33 at the time of publication Tuesday, according to Benzinga Pro.

Photo: courtesy of United Airlines.