JetBlue Airways Corp (NASDAQ:JBLU) shares dove over 25% to $6 after the company reported better than expected earnings but cautioned that capacity would be down in the first quarter of 2025.
JetBlue said available seat miles (ASM) in the first quarter are likely to fall 2-5% compared to a year earlier, and are on course to be roughly flat for the whole year.
CEO Joanna Geraghty introduced a refocused strategy, JetForward, during the past year aimed at wrestling the carrier on a path back to profitability.
She said the revenue backdrop was "healthy" and with continued cost control JetBlue is "well-positioned to deliver on our goal of achieving a positive operating margin for the full year".
For the fourth quarter of 2024, JetBlue reported an adjusted loss per share of $0.21, worse than the $0.19 loss a year ago but better than the Wall Street consensus forecast for a $0.31 loss.
Revenues of $2.28 billion were down 2.1% year over year, but again beat the Street's $2.25 billion estimate even though capacity shrank 5.1% year-on-year.
Revenue per ASM growth is anticipated to be between -0.5% and +3.5% for the first quarter of 2025 and 3-6% for the whole of 2025.
CFO Ursula Hurley said: "We expect to reach positive operating margin in 2025 by building on the progress we made in 2024, delivering on our revenue and reliability initiatives as part of JetForward, and continuing our cost control efforts."
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