Spirit Airlines jumped in morning trading Friday after the struggling discount carrier said a strong holiday travel season boosted its fourth-quarter revenue.
Spirit said it expects to post revenue of $1.3 billion when it releases its results for the final quarter of 2023 early next month. That’s at the high end of previous guidance and in-line with Wall Street projections.
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Spirit soared more than 20%, to $6.88 per share, in morning trading.
The airline’s shares lost more than half their value earlier in the week after a federal judge in Boston scuttled JetBlue’s $3.8 billion proposal to buy Spirit, saying it violates antitrust law.
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A sale to JetBlue represented a lifeline for Spirit, which faces $1.1 billion in debt maturing next year.
Spirit and JetBlue said they are reviewing the court’s decision and that the merger remains in effect as the airlines evaluate their next steps.
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Some Wall Street analysts suggested this week that without an acquisition, Spirit’s only viable path forward is bankruptcy.
Spirit, based in Miramar, Florida, last turned a full-year profit in 2019. It has lost more than $1.6 billion since then.
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In a regulatory filing two weeks ago, Spirit disclosed that it had raised $419 million through sale-and-leaseback agreements covering 25 planes. The company said it has $1.3 billion in cash and cash equivalents on hand and is assessing options to refinance its debt that matures in 2025.
Spirit Air stock bounces back a bit, airline says holiday travel boosted revenue
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