B Of A Securities analyst Andrew G. Didora raised estimates for Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL) ahead of the fourth-quarter earnings release while reiterating a Buy rating and a price forecast of $72.

The company plans to release the December quarter and full-year 2024 financial results on January 10, 2025.

The analyst writes that Delta was one of the few airlines that did not update its fourth-quarter guidance in December.

With several airlines reporting revenue upside, the analyst has raised DAL’s fourth-quarter revenue growth estimate to +4.3% from +3.6%, slightly above the top end of the +2 to 4% outlook.

Didora expects fourth-quarter unit costs to rise by 3.0%, which is in line with guidance, and fuel costs to fall in the upper half of the guided range.

This leads to the analyst’s EPS estimate of $1.78 (Visible Alpha consensus $1.77), at the high end of the $1.60-$1.85 guidance range for the quarter.

With first-quarter domestic capacity growth 50bps lower on a sequential basis, the analyst expects unit and total revenue growth to accelerate. Didora also projects unit cost growth of +2.7%, fuel at $2.44 per gallon, and an EPS of $0.77 (Visible Alpha consensus $0.78) in the first quarter of FY25.

The analyst estimates 2025 EPS to be in the $7-$8 range compared to BofA at $7.34 and Visible Alpha consensus at $7.37, reflecting the 10% EPS growth target from investor day.

Also, the analyst expects 2025 revenue growth to exceed 5% each quarter, with third-quarter of FY25 showing the strongest at +8%, leading to total revenue growth of +6.2%.

Investors can gain exposure to the stock via the U.S. Global Jets ETF (NYSE:JETS) and the Defiance Hotel, Airline and Cruise ETF (NYSE:CRUZ).

Price Action: DAL shares are up 2.89% at $60.71 at the last check Monday.

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