JetBlue's stock rallies after adjusted loss was narrower than expected, and revenue beat forecasts

Shares of JetBlue Airways Corp. /zigman2/quotes/207639051/composite JBLU -1.01% rose 1.8% in premarket Thursday, after the air carrier reported a fourth-quarter loss that was narrower than expected, as revenue and load factor beat forecasts. The company swung to a net loss of $381 million, or $1.34 a share, from net income of $161 million, or 56 cents a share, in the year-ago period. Excluding nonrecurring items, JetBlue swung to an adjusted per-share loss of $1.53 from EPS of 56 cents, but beat the FactSet loss consensus of $1.67. Total revenue dropped 67.4% to $661 million, above the FactSet consensus of $634 million, as passenger revenue declined 68.9% to 606 million but beat expectations of $602 million. Load factor dropped to 52.4% to 81.9%, but beat the FactSet consensus of 49.9%, as traffic fell 66.2% while capacity declined 47.3%. The average daily cash burn for the quarter was $6.7 million, compared with the company's guidance range of $6 million to $8 million. For the first quarter, the company expects revenue to fall 65% to 70%, while the current FactSet revenue consensus of $817 million implies a 49% decline. "We saw increased demand for Martin Luther King weekend, and are seeing a similar pattern for Presidents' Day weekend, but we don't anticipate traffic to reach the levels of late December," said Chief Operating Officer Joanna Geraghty. The stock has hiked up 31.1% over the past three months through Wednesday, while the U.S. Global Jets ETF /zigman2/quotes/207744796/composite JETS -0.35% has climbed 29.5% and the S&P 500 /zigman2/quotes/210599714/realtime SPX +1.95% has gained 14.7%.