SkyWest's Stock Declines 1.7% Since Q2 Earnings Release

SkyWest, Inc. SKYW reported better-than-expected second-quarter 2025 results. Both earnings and revenues surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate and improved on a year-over-year basis.

However, the better-than-expected results failed to satisfy the market as the company’s shares have fallen 1.7% since the earnings release.

Quarterly earnings per share of $2.91 outpaced the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 24.4% and improved 59.9% year over year. Revenues of $1.04 billion beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 5.3% and increased 19.4% year over year.

SkyWest, Inc. Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise

SkyWest, Inc. price-consensus-eps-surprise-chart | SkyWest, Inc. Quote

Revenues from flying agreements (contributing 96.5% to the top line) grew 17.8% from the prior-year reported figure of $987.5 million. The airline carried 13.1% more passengers in the reported quarter on a year-over-year basis. Departures were 17.7% more on a year-over-year basis. The passenger load factor (percentage of seats filled by passengers) decreased 1.6 points to 82.8%.

Chip Childs, president and chief executive officer of SkyWest, stated, “Demand for our product remains solid. We believe we are well-positioned to deploy our capital for long-term growth and fleet opportunities, including service expansion in smaller communities and optimizing our fleet to meet the demand for regional flying. I want to thank our team of professionals for delivering an outstanding performance during the second quarter.”

As part of its fleet modernization exercise, SKYW has a multi-year flying contract with Delta Air Lines DAL to purchase and operate 16 new E175 aircraft. The 16 aircraft are expected to replace 11 CRJ900s and five CRJ700s. SkyWest is currently flying under contract with Delta. The company is scheduled to purchase 16 E175s from Embraer, with delivery dates in 2027 and 2028.

By the end of 2028, SkyWest anticipates having nearly 300 E175 aircraft.

Operating expenses were $865 million, up 16% from the year-ago quarter. The rise was due to an increase in flight production year over year.

At the second-quarter end, the company had cash and marketable securities of $727 million compared with $802 million reported at the December-quarter end of 2024. Long-term debt (net of current maturities) was $2.5 billion compared with $2.7 billion reported at the end of the December-end quarter of 2024.

In the June-end quarter of 2025, the SKYW board of directors approved a $250 million increase in its existing share repurchase plan. The company repurchased 195,000 shares of common stock for $17.3 million at an average price per share of $88.61, up 38% from 141,000 shares repurchased during the first quarter of 2025. As of June 30, 2025, SkyWest had $267 million of remaining availability under its current share repurchase program.

Capital expenditures during the reported quarter were $169 million, which included the purchase of four CRJ550 aircraft, spare engines and other fixed assets.

SKYW’s Zacks Rank

Currently, SkyWest sports a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy).  You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

Q2 Performances of Other Transportation Companies

Delta Air Lines reported second-quarter 2025 earnings (excluding $1.17 per share from non-recurring items) of $2.10 per share, which beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $2.04. However, earnings decreased 11% on a year-over-year basis due to high labor costs.

Revenues in the June-end quarter were $16.65 billion, beating the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $16.2 billion and decreasing marginally on a year-over-year basis. Adjusted operating revenues (excluding third-party refinery sales) increased 1% year over year to $15.5 billion. 

J.B. Hunt Transport Services, Inc. JBHT reported second-quarter 2025 earnings of $1.31 per share, which missed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $1.34 and declined 0.8% year over year.

Total operating revenues of $2.93 billion lagged the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $2.94 billion and were flat year over year. JBHT’s second-quarter revenue performance witnessed a 6% increase in Intermodal (“JBI”) loads, a 13% jump in Truckload (“JBT”) loads, a 3% rise in Dedicated Contract Services (“DCS”) productivity and a 6% increase in Integrated Capacity Solutions (“ICS”) revenue per load. These items were offset by Final Mile Services revenues declining 10%, lower revenue per load in both JBI and JBT, a 9% decrease in ICS load volume and a 3% decline in average trucks in DCS. Total operating revenues, excluding fuel surcharge revenues, increased 1% on a year-over-year basis.

United Airlines Holdings, Inc. UAL reported mixed second-quarter 2025 results, wherein the company’s earnings beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate, but revenues missed the same.

UAL's second-quarter 2025 adjusted earnings per share of $3.87 surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate by a penny but declined 6.5% on a year-over-year basis. The reported figure lies within the guided range of $3.25-$4.25.

Operating revenues of $15.2 billion fell short of the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $15.4 billion but increased 1.7% year over year. Passenger revenues (which accounted for 90.8% of the top line) rose 1.1% year over year to $13.8 billion. UAL flights transported 46,186 passengers in the second quarter, up 4.1% year over year.

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

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