Copa Holdings Q3 Profit Up 13%, Results Beat View

(RTTNews) - Copa Holdings, S.A. (CPA), a Latin American provider of airline passenger and cargo services, on Tuesday reported a 13 percent increase in profit for the third quarter from last year, reflecting higher revenues and margins.

The company also recorded increases in passenger traffic, capacity and load factor for the quarter. Both revenue and adjusted earnings per share beat analysts' expectations.

The Panama City-based company's net income for the third quarter was $126.01 million or $2.84 per share, up from $111.92 million or $2.52 per share in the same period last year. The latest quarter's results include an unrealized gain on fuel hedging instruments of $9.82 million, compared to gain of $14.28 million in the prior-year period.

Excluding these, adjusted net income for the latest quarter was $116.19 million or $2.62 per share, compared to $97.64 million or $2.20 per share in the year-ago period. On average, twelve analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected the company to earn $2.59 per share for the quarter. Analysts' estimates typically exclude special items.

Operating revenues for the quarter grew 15 percent to $677.28 million from $590.45 million in the same period last year. Analysts had a consensus revenue estimate of $669.88 million.

Operating margin for the quarter rose 2.5 percentage points over the year-ago period to 21.8 percent, mostly as a result of higher unit revenues.

The company's passenger traffic for the quarter grew 15.5 percent to 3.80 billion revenue passenger miles or RPMs on an 11.6 percent capacity expansion to 4.87 billion available seat miles or ASMs. Consolidated load factor rose 2.6 percentage points to 78.1 percent.

Yield per passenger mile decreased 0.1 percent to 17.2 cents, while operating revenue per available seat mile or RASM increased 2.8 percent to 13.9 cents. However, adjusting for a 7.5 percent increase in average length of haul, yields increased 3.6 percent and RASM rose 6.6 percent.

Operating cost per available seat mile or CASM improved 0.3 percent to 10.9 cents. CASM, excluding fuel, increased 2.7 percent to 6.8 cents.

During the third quarter, Copa Airlines took delivery of three Boeing 737-800 aircraft. As a result, the company ended the quarter with a consolidated fleet of 89 aircraft. Additionally, during the months of September and October, Copa Airlines completed the extension of four 737-700 aircraft leases that were expiring in 2014.

CPA closed Tuesday's trading at $151.83, down $0.89 or 0.58 percent on a volume of 279,133 shares.