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Wednesday, October 15, 2008
Delta Air Lines Swings To Third-quarter Loss
Christopher Hinton
MarketWatch Pulse
NEW YORK -- Delta Air Lines on Wednesday reported a third-quarter loss of $50 million, or 13 cents a share, compared to a net income of $220 million, or 56 cents a share in the year-ago period. The Atlanta-based carrier said its total operating revenue rose 9% to $5.72 billion from $5.23 billion. Excluding items, Delta said its loss was 7 cents a share, while analysts polled by FactSet Research expected, on average, a gain of 2 cents. In the wake of record oil prices this summer, Delta said its jet fuel cost surged 54% to $1.95 billion. Delta said its cash balance was $3.1 billion as of Sept. 30, up from $2.6 billion at the end of the second quarter. The carrier also said its acquisition of Northwest Airlines was on track to close in the fourth quarter.
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Most folks judge the health of a business by the revenue that comes in through sales. But not all revenue is equal. Companies can grow their sales by buying other companies, which means you don't get a clear view of how the real sales trends are moving.
So, many analysts, particularly those who look at retail, try to gauge what¿s known as "organic" growth, by looking at same-store sales. These are sales only at outlets open more than a year, so the metric can exclude any sales jump that comes from opening new locations. Retailers release same-store sales (which are frequently called "comps" since they're a true comparison from the previous period) every month.
Retail, incidentally, isn't the only industry to look at same-store sales. Hospital companies, also use the metric, to gauge how existing hospitals are performing compared to ones they just built or acquired.
