Shares of American Airlines Group Inc. AAL,
recorded a 54.5% increase to a 11-month high in premarket trading on Thursday after the airline reported lower-than-expected losses in the fourth quarter and a revenue-to-expense factor that exceeded expectations . The company made a net loss of $ 2.18 billion, or $ 3.81 per share, from net income of $ 414 million, or 95 cents per share, a year ago. Excluding non-recurring items, the adjusted loss per share was $ 3.86, exceeding the consensus of FactSet losses of $ 4.11. Revenue fell 64% to $ 4.03 billion, but exceeded the $ 3.88 billion FactSet consensus. The load factor decreased to 63.4% from 84.7%, above the FactSet consensus of 62.9%, as traffic decreased by 66.7% and capacity decreased by 55.4%. The daily rate of cash burns in that quarter was $ 30 million, compared to nearly $ 100 million in April. The company expects to end the first quarter with $ 15.0 billion in total available liquidity. “As we look to next year, 2021 will be a year of recovery,” said CEO Doug Parker. “Although we do not know exactly when the passenger demand will return, as the distribution of the vaccine stops and travel restrictions are lifted, we will be ready.” The stock rose 51.2% in the last three months to Wednesday, while the US JETS Global Jets ETF
rose 29.5% and the S&P 500 SPX
gained 14.7%.