Southwest Airlines Fourth Quarter Earnings Sneak Peek

S&P 500 (NYSE:SPY) component Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) will unveil its latest earnings tomorrow, Thursday, January 24, 2013. Southwest Airlines is a passenger airline that provides air transportation in the United States.

Southwest Airlines Earnings Preview Cheat Sheet

Wall St. Earnings Expectations: The average analyst estimate is for profit of 7 cents per share, a decline of 22.2% from the company’s actual earnings for the year-ago quarter. During the past three months, the average estimate has moved down from 10 cents. Between one and three months ago, the average estimate moved down. It has been unchanged at 7 cents during the last month. Analysts are projecting profit to rise by 23.3% versus last year to 53 cents.

Past Earnings Performance: The company has beaten estimates the last four quarters and is coming off a quarter where it topped forecasts by one cent, reporting net income of 13 cents per share against a mean estimate of profit of 12 cents per share.

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A Look Back: In the third quarter, the company swung to a profit of $16 million (2 cents a share) from a loss of $140 million (18 cents) a year earlier, beating analyst estimates. Revenue was unchanged at $4.31 billion.

Here’s how Southwest Airlines traded following its last earnings report 3 months ago and leading up to its upcoming earnings report this week: