I’m going to post one more thing here today, and then you probably won’t see too much more of me as I’ve got to wrap up another mega issue of PlaneBusiness Banter for this week. Yes, it’s an earnings week. That means a late Friday posting. Just a nice side benefit of posting a publication electronically. Or, as the editor of Texas Monthly said in an email to both subscribers and website visitors only this week, “We’re no longer wedded to a traditional publishing schedule. The Internet — and the Internet user — is a beast that needs to be fed constantly, some days with multimedia extensions of stories in the current [hard copy] issue, other days with a peek at what’s coming next, and every day with blog posts.”
Amen.
So speaking of feeding you guys constantly, how did the folks at Frontier do last quarter?
Well, let me put it this way. Between this quarter and the return of Sean Menke to the fold, I think we may just have to reconsider the airline’s position on our Titanic Watch. Maybe. More on that next week in PBB.
The airline today reported consolidated net income of $17.3 million, or $0.39, for the company’s second fiscal quarter, which ended Sept. 30. Excluding special items, the airline came in with a profit of $0.45.
This compares favorably to last year, when the airline posted net income of $0.5 million, or $0.01.
JP Morgan Airline Wizard Jamie Baker said this morning in a note, “Frontier’s 2Q (Sep) ex-item profit of $0.45 exceeded our $0.31 forecast and consensus $0.19, in one of this season’s true upside surprises. However, a near-zero tax-rate contributed the upside relative to our Street-high forecast. Resulting 6.9% EBIT margin Frontier’s best in nearly four years, driven by 5.1% RASM and modest 3.4% rise in ex-fuel CASM. Company cites continued demand strength going forward (hardly unexpected), and a December quarter loss below last year’s ($0.41). No change to our ($0.24), which assumes a continuation of Frontier’s newfound RASM momentum.”
So, there you have it. Lower taxes certainly helped, but all in all, still a good quarter for the folks with the animals on their tails.
Ticker: (Nasdaq:FRNT)
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