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Air Lease Corporation (AL) reported solid fourth-quarter 2024 results wherein both earnings and revenues surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate. Quarterly earnings per share (EPS) of $1.34 beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $1.14.However, the bottom line fell year over year owing to higher interest expense, driven by the increase in AL’s composite cost of funds and overall outstanding debt balance.
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Total revenues of $712.9 million surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $706.4 million but fell 0.5% year over year.
Air Lease Corporation Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise
Air Lease Corporation price-consensus-eps-surprise-chart | Air Lease Corporation Quote
John L. Plueger, AL’s chief executive officer and president, and Steven F. Udvar-Hazy, executive chairman of the board, stated, “ALC generated record revenues in 2024, driven by our $5 billion in aircraft purchases from our orderbook, and $1.7 billion in aircraft sales. Looking forward, we expect lease rates and aircraft valuations to rise, supporting the value of our business. We remain optimistic about the ongoing benefits of these trends, given aircraft shortages are anticipated to persist for several years to come.”
Other Statistics
Revenues from the rental of flight equipment fell 1% year over year to $638.9 million. Despite the continued growth of the fleet, AL’s rental revenues decreased due to lower end-of-lease revenues of approximately $54 million (due to fewer aircraft returns during the reported quarter).
Revenues from aircraft sales, trading activity and other sources grew 2% from the year-ago quarter to $73.9 million, owing to an increase in gains from aircraft sales. AL witnessed $65 million in profits from the sale of 14 aircraft during the reported quarter.
Operating expenses rose 10.8% year over year to $572.9 million.
As of Dec. 31, 2024, Air Lease owned 489 aircraft with a net book value of $28.2 billion. The total fleet size at the fourth-quarter end was 818 (including the owned fleet of 489, 60 managed fleet and 269 aircraft on order).
Air Lease exited the fourth quarter with $472.55 million in cash and cash equivalents compared with $460.78 million at the prior-quarter end. Debt financing, net of discount and issuance costs, amounted to $20.20 billion at the fourth-quarter end compared with $20.16 billion at the prior-quarter end.
Currently, Air Lease carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
Q4 Performances of Other Transportation Companies
Delta Air Lines DAL reported fourth-quarter 2024 earnings (excluding 56 cents from non-recurring items) of $1.85 per share, which surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $1.76. Earnings increased 44.5% on a year-over-year basis due to low fuel costs.