By George Glover

Southwest Airlines stock was falling on Thursday after the carrier's fourth-quarter revenue and forward guidance both came in a little short of Wall Street's expectations.

Shares fell 2.7% to $30.80 in premarket trading. Futures tracking the S&P 500 were up 0.4%.

Southwest reported fourth-quarter earnings of 56 cents a share, as revenue rose 3.3% from a year ago to $6.93 billion -- a record for the final three months of the year. Analysts were expecting earnings of 46 cents a share on revenue of $6.96 billion, according to FactSet.

However, the Dallas-based airline's unit revenue guidance looked a little light. Southwest said it expected its revenue per available seat mile -- a key metric of how much money a carrier can make per customer -- to rise by between 5% and 7% over the first quarter. The midpoint of those figures is slightly below the 6.3% growth forecast by analysts.

The carrier also looks set to face cost pressures in the first quarter, guiding for unit costs excluding fuel to jump up to 9%. That's a problem for discount airlines as their business models hinder their ability to hike prices to offset higher costs.

This is breaking news. Check back for more analysis soon.

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

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January 30, 2025 07:12 ET (12:12 GMT)

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