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Delta Air Lines shares fell by approximately 4.4% on Thursday morning after the company reaffirmed its full-year earnings guidance and projected third-quarter revenue growth of about 2-4%. This guidance was largely in line with previous expectations and slightly above consensus estimates, but the sell-off surprised many investors. In contrast, other airline stocks generally rose between 0.5% and 1.5%, with Frontier Airlines gaining more than 5%.
The market reaction followed Delta’s participation at the Laguna conference, an event hosted by Morgan Stanley that draws financial analysts from various sectors. Delta’s leadership, including President Glen Hauenstein and Vice President of Investor Relations Julie Stewart, discussed updated forecasts for the remainder of the year during a session with Ravi Shanker, Managing Director and Lead Research Analyst at Morgan Stanley.
Hauenstein highlighted improvements in premium cabin margins and strong demand across the sector: "We're seeing very strong domestic corporate demand into the fall, which we're very excited about. We actually had our highest post-pandemic corporate sales number for any day and any week in the September. So looking like the fall is going to be quite solid in terms of the booking demand for corporate as well as high-yield leisure."
