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Spirit Airlines (SAVE) Rides on Low Fuel Costs Amid Pandemic

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We recently issued an updated report on Spirit Airlines, Inc. (SAVE - Free Report) .

Spirit Airlines has been witnessing significant pressure on fares and impact on load factor since late-February. Evidently, passenger revenues plunge 51.7% year over year in the first half of 2020. Due to an unprecedented drop in passenger demand, the company’s April and May capacity was lowered by approximately 75% and 95% respectively. The same for June has been reduced by approximately 95%. Moreover, capacity contracted to the tune of 83.2% in second quarter 2020.

During the second quarter 2020, cost per available seat mile (CASM) excluding operating special items and fuel, escalated more than 100%. Moreover, the carrier's return on equity dropped to a negative territory due to the unprecedented crisis.

Nevertheless, low fuel prices are helping Spirit Airlines partly offset the adversities. Notably, average fuel cost per gallon fell 20.2% year over year to $1.7 in the first half of 2020. Additionally, the airline’s stringent cost-cutting measures support the bottom line.

The carrier exited the June quarter with cash and equivalents of $1,264 million, above the current debt of $417 million, which implies that the company has sufficient cash to meet its short-term debt obligations.

Zacks Rank & Stocks to Consider

Spirit Airlines currently carries a Zacks Rank #4 (Sell).

A few better-ranked stocks in the Zacks Transportation sector are Knight-Swift Transportation Holdings Inc. (KNX - Free Report) , United Parcel Service, Inc. (UPS - Free Report) and Canadian Pacific Railway Limited (CP - Free Report) . Knight-Swift and United Parcel sport a Zacks Rank # 1 (Strong Buy), whereas Canadian Pacific carries a Zacks Rank # 2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

Long-term expected earnings per share (three to five years) growth rate for Knight-Swift, United Parcel and Canadian Pacific is pegged at 15%, 7.7% and 8%, respectively.

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