Why the Market Dipped But Delta Air Lines (DAL) Gained Today

In the latest close session, Delta Air Lines (DAL) was up +1.63% at $70.51. The stock outperformed the S&P 500, which registered a daily loss of 0.54%. On the other hand, the Dow registered a gain of 0.03%, and the technology-centric Nasdaq decreased by 1.18%.

The airline's stock has climbed by 5.39% in the past month, falling short of the Transportation sector's gain of 9.28% and outpacing the S&P 500's gain of 0.58%.

Market participants will be closely following the financial results of Delta Air Lines in its upcoming release. The company is predicted to post an EPS of $0.72, indicating a 56.52% growth compared to the equivalent quarter last year. Meanwhile, the latest consensus estimate predicts the revenue to be $14.57 billion, indicating a 3.74% increase compared to the same quarter of the previous year.

Looking at the full year, the Zacks Consensus Estimates suggest analysts are expecting earnings of $7.22 per share and revenue of $65.96 billion. These totals would mark changes of +24.05% and +4.1%, respectively, from last year.

Investors should also pay attention to any latest changes in analyst estimates for Delta Air Lines. These latest adjustments often mirror the shifting dynamics of short-term business patterns. As a result, we can interpret positive estimate revisions as a good sign for the business outlook.

Our research shows that these estimate changes are directly correlated with near-term stock prices. To exploit this, we've formed the Zacks Rank, a quantitative model that includes these estimate changes and presents a viable rating system.

The Zacks Rank system, which varies between #1 (Strong Buy) and #5 (Strong Sell), carries an impressive track record of exceeding expectations, confirmed by external audits, with stocks at #1 delivering an average annual return of +25% since 1988. Over the past month, the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate remained stagnant. As of now, Delta Air Lines holds a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).

Valuation is also important, so investors should note that Delta Air Lines has a Forward P/E ratio of 9.61 right now. This signifies a discount in comparison to the average Forward P/E of 9.75 for its industry.

Investors should also note that DAL has a PEG ratio of 0.67 right now. This popular metric is similar to the widely-known P/E ratio, with the difference being that the PEG ratio also takes into account the company's expected earnings growth rate. By the end of yesterday's trading, the Transportation - Airline industry had an average PEG ratio of 0.51.

The Transportation - Airline industry is part of the Transportation sector. This group has a Zacks Industry Rank of 29, putting it in the top 12% of all 250+ industries.

The Zacks Industry Rank is ordered from best to worst in terms of the average Zacks Rank of the individual companies within each of these sectors. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.

Don't forget to use Zacks.com to keep track of all these stock-moving metrics, and others, in the upcoming trading sessions.

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Delta Air Lines, Inc. (DAL): Free Stock Analysis Report

This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).

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