Alaska Air Lifts Q4 Guidance, To Increase Repurchase Activity

(RTTNews) - Alaska Air Group, Inc. (ALK) Thursday announced that it has raised revenue guidance for the fourth quarter, driven by strong holiday bookings and improved close-in demand.

Further, the company stated that it will be increasing repurchase activity in December and now expects to repurchase $145 million shares in 2023.

Looking forward to the fourth quarter, the company is now expecting 2.25 to 3.25 percent total revenue percent change compared to 2022. The previous guidance was 1 percent to 4 percent.

The airline company is now expecting an adjusted pre-tax margin of 1 percent as well. The previous guidance was from 0 percent to 2 percent.

The change in guidance is attributed to fuel costs, in particular West Coast refining margins, that have remained volatile throughout the quarter due to further unplanned maintenance events at California refineries.

In pre-market activity, Alaska Air shares are trading at $39, up 0.96% on the New York Stock Exchange.