SkyWest says 3Q profit fell 39 percent

ST. GEORGE, Utah - SkyWest Inc., parent of regional feeder carriers SkyWest Airlines and Atlantic Southeast Airlines, said Wednesday its third-quarter profit fell 39 percent despite an increase in sales.

The company reported that for the three months ended Sept. 30, it earned $26.2 million, or 45 cents a share, compared with net income of $42.9 million, or 68 cents a share, a year earlier.

Revenue rose 6.7 percent to $934.1 million from $875.6 million for the same period last year.

Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters were expecting earnings of 48 cents a share on revenue of $931.3 million.

SkyWest recorded stock-based compensation expense of approximately $2.9 million pretax ($1.9 million after-tax) in the quarter.

For the first nine months of the year, SkyWest said its profit was $91.7 million, or $1.55 a share, compared with profit of $118.3 million, or $1.83 a share, a year earlier. Nine-month revenue rose to $2.75 billion, compared with $2.52 billion a year earlier.

As of Sept. 30, SkyWest had roughly $729.6 million in cash and marketable securities. SkyWest's long-term debt at the end of the quarter totaled $1.66 billion.

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