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Air Lease's (AL) Q4 Earnings & Revenues Beat, Surge Y/Y

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Air Lease Corporation’s (AL - Free Report) fourth-quarter 2021 earnings of $1.24 per share surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 83 cents. The bottom line surged 31.9% year over year despite increased costs.

Quarterly revenues of $597.2 million outperformed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $535.3 million. The top line jumped 22.1% year over year owing to 16.6% increase in revenues from the rental of flight equipment, which contributed 94.4% to the top line. Continued growth in fleet and increase in cash collections drove the top line.

Other Statistics

Revenues from aircraft sales, trading activity and other sources climbed more than 500% year over year to $33.51 million in the reported quarter. Total expenses rose 16.4% to $408.80 million due to higher interest expenses and depreciation of flight equipment costs. The company’s collection rate was 99.3% for the fourth quarter compared with 94% in the third quarter.

As of Dec 31, 2021, Air Lease owned 382 aircraft with a net book value of $22.9 billion. Total fleet size at the end of the fourth quarter was 905 (including owned fleet of 382) compared with 799 at the end of December 2020.

Air Lease Corporation Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise

Air Lease Corporation Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise

Air Lease Corporation price-consensus-eps-surprise-chart | Air Lease Corporation Quote


Owing to continued improvement in its operations, Air Lease’s board approved a share-buyback program worth $150 million. The program will run through September 2022.

Liquidity

Air Lease, carrying a Zacks Rank #4 (Sell), exited the fourth quarter with cash and cash equivalents of $1.09 billion compared with $1.73 billion at 2020-end. As of Dec 31, 2021, the company had $17.02 billion of debt financing, net of discount and issuance costs compared with $16.52 billion as of Dec 31, 2020.

At the end of the fourth quarter, Air Lease had a strong liquidity position of $7.9 billion, which should help the company tackle coronavirus-induced challenges efficiently.

Dividend Update

Air Lease’s board approved a quarterly cash dividend of 18.5 cents per share, payable to shareholders on Apr 7 of record as on Mar 18.

Sectorial Snapshots

Let’s take a look at some of the other earnings releases by companies within the Zacks Transportation sector.

Werner Enterprises (WERN - Free Report) , carrying a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold), reported fourth-quarter 2021 earnings (excluding 2 cents from non-recurring items) of $1.13 per share, which surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 96 cents.  The bottom line rose 27% on a year-over-year basis.

Werner’s total revenues of $765.2 million also outperformed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $725.1 million. The top line increased 23.4% on a year-over-year basis, primarily on higher revenues in the Truckload Transportation Services and Logistics segments.

GATX Corporation (GATX - Free Report) , sporting a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), reported fourth-quarter 2021 earnings (excluding 11 cents from non-recurring items) of $1.58 per share, which surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $1.07. The bottom line surged more than 200% year over year. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

GATX’s total revenues of $321 million increased 5.3% year over year, mainly on a 5.2% rise in lease revenues, which came in at $288.4 million. Lease revenues contributed 89.8% to the top line.

C.H. Robinson Worldwide (CHRW - Free Report) , carrying a Zacks Rank #3, reported fourth-quarter 2021 earnings of $1.74 per share, which fell short of the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $1.85. However, the bottom line surged 61.1% year over year.

C.H. Robinson’s total revenues of $6,501.8 million outperformed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $6,190.8 million. The top line jumped 42.9% year over year owing to higher pricing and volumes across most of the company’s service lines.

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