PANAMA CITY - Copa Holdings, S.A. (NYSE: CPA ) reported third quarter earnings that narrowly missed analyst estimates, sending shares down 7.3% in premarket trading Thursday.
The Panama-based airline posted adjusted earnings per share of $3.50, $0.01 below the $3.51 consensus estimate. Revenue came in at $854.7 million, falling short of analysts' expectations of $861.88 million.
For the third quarter, Copa Holdings reported a net profit of $146.0 million, down $28.4 million compared to the same period last year on an adjusted basis. The company's operating profit decreased by $31.3 million to $173.7 million, with operating margin contracting 3.3 percentage points to 20.3%.
While Copa increased capacity by 9.5% YoY in available seat miles (ASMs), passenger traffic grew at a slower 7.6% pace. This resulted in load factor declining 1.6 percentage points to 86.2%. Revenue per available seat mile (RASM) fell 10.1% to 11.0 cents, driven by an 8.7% decrease in passenger yields.
The airline ended the quarter with $1.3 billion in cash and investments, representing 36% of trailing twelve-month revenues. Total (EPA: TTEF ) debt stood at $1.9 billion, with an adjusted net debt to EBITDA ratio of 0.6x.
Copa's fleet expanded to 110 aircraft after taking delivery of one Boeing (NYSE: BA ) 737 MAX 8 during the quarter. The company also announced a dividend payment of $1.61 per share, payable on December 13, 2024.
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