By George Glover

JetBlue Airways lost less money than Wall Street was expecting in the fourth quarter, but that wasn't enough to stop the company's shares from racking up double-digit losses on Tuesday.

The low-cost carrier reported an adjusted loss of 21 cents a share on revenue of $2.27 billion ahead of the opening bell. Analysts were expecting a loss of 29 cents a share from revenue of $2.26 billion, according to data from FactSet.

But the market may be concerned by JetBlue's financial guidance. The airline's forecast for first-quarter unit revenue, or revenue per available seat mile, ranges from a 0.5% loss to a 3.5% gain -- well below the 4.8% increase analysts surveyed by FactSet were expecting.

The carrier also expects to operate fewer flights in the first three months of the year, saying it expects capacity to fall between 2% and 5% year over year.

It is possible that guidance looked soft because Wall Street's models were off, TD Cowen analyst Tom Fitzgerald said in a research note Tuesday. He pointed out that the Easter weekend typically pushes up unit revenue by 1.5%. The holiday falls in mid-April this year, meaning that boost will only show up in JetBlue's second-quarter earnings.

"This seems more an issue of the sell-side (ourselves included) not fully incorporating the impact of the Easter shift in our models versus underperformance by the company," wrote Fitzgerald, who rates the stock as a Hold with a $6 price target. He added that a gap in margins between the airline and its peers could also have weighed on its outlook.

JetBlue shares fell 26% to $6.02 on Tuesday, marking the largest daily percentage decrease on record, according to Dow Jones Market Data. The benchmark S&P 500 index was up 0.4%.

Other airline stocks were mostly lower. Delta Air Lines was down 1.1%, while United Airlines fell 1.5%. American Airlines rose 0.3%.

Write to George Glover at george.glover@dowjones.com

This content was created by Barron's, which is operated by Dow Jones & Co. Barron's is published independently from Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal.

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January 28, 2025 11:29 ET (16:29 GMT)

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