Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) rose in early trading after lower fuel prices and cost controls helped the U.S. budget carrier reported profit nearly doubled in the latest quarter and forecast that unit revenue would rise in the current quarter.
Shares increased as much as 2.3% as of 8:13 a.m. in New York. The stock had closed at $41.02 on Wednesday, down 3% this year.
Net income jumped to $584mln, or $0.88 per share, in the September quarter, from $329mln, or $0.48 per share, a year earlier, the Dallas Texas-based company said in a statement on Thursday.
Adjusted earnings increased to $0.94 per share, compared to $0.55 per share last year. That topped the $0.92 average estimate of 15 analysts surveyed by Capital IQ.
Total operating revenues increased 10.8% to $5.3bn from $4.80bn in the previous year. That result also surpassed the Wall Street consensus of $5.11bn.
Southwest anticipates that unit revenue, or sales relative to the Total mileage of the seats it flies, would rise about 1% in the current quarter compared to last year.
The forecast unit revenue rise halts a two-quarter-long drop in that measure as Southwest boosted capacity and competed for share in hotly contested U.S. cities such as Dallas, pressuring ticket prices.