Shares of LATAM Airlines Group (LTM have gained 8.1% since its first-quarter 2026 earnings release on May 5, 2026.
LATAM Airlines reported solid first-quarter 2026 results, wherein the company’s earnings and revenues surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate and improved on a year-over-year basis.
Quarterly earnings of $2.01 per share beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $1.35 and improved 70.7% year over year. Total revenues of $4.15 billion beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $3.87 billion and grew 21.7% year over year, owing to a 24.4% increase in passenger revenues and a 3.4% increase in cargo revenues.
For the first quarter of 2026, passenger and cargo revenues accounted for 88.2% and 10.1% of total operating revenues, respectively.
LATAM Airlines Group S.A. Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise
LATAM Airlines Group S.A. price-consensus-eps-surprise-chart | LATAM Airlines Group S.A. Quote
Total adjusted operating expenses grew 17.3% year over year, owing to the 10.4% capacity expansion and the appreciation of local currencies, mainly the Brazilian real (BRL), which strengthened by almost 10%, and the Chilean peso (CLP), which rose by 8%, versus the U.S. dollar.
LATAM Airlines’ consolidated capacity (measured in available seat-kilometers or ASKs) grew 10.4% year over year, with a 13% year-over-year increase in revenue passenger-kilometers (RPK: a measure of air traffic). Since traffic growth outpaced capacity expansion, the load factor (percentage of seats filled by passengers) rose 2 percentage points to 85.3% in the reported quarter.
The carrier transported 22.9 million passengers during the reported quarter, up 9.1% year over year, owing to the performance of the international segment and LATAM Airlines Brazil's domestic market.
As of March 31, 2026, LATAM’s fleet had 375 aircraft, which includes 295 Airbus narrow-body aircraft, three Airbus wide-body aircraft under short-term leases, 57 Boeing wide-body aircraft and 20 Boeing cargo freighters. During the first quarter, LTM received three A321Neo and one A320 CEO, and anticipates the delivery of 37 aircraft through the remainder of the year.
LTM exited the first quarter of 2026 with cash and cash equivalents of $2.54 billion compared with $2.15 billion at the end of the prior quarter.
2026 Guidance
Given the ongoing conflict in the Middle East and its impact on the macroeconomic and geopolitical global scenario, the current situation remains uncertain/volatile and difficult to estimate.
The aforesaid condition has led to higher jet fuel prices, which are likely to impact passenger and cargo demand. Although the prior 2026 guidance assumed an average jet fuel price of $90 per barrel, the current scenario suggests a higher value. LATAM Airlines anticipates the fuel price per barrel to be $170 for the second quarter, $170 for the third quarter and $150 for the fourth quarter of 2026.
For 2026, adjusted EBITDA is now anticipated to be in the range of $3.80-$4.20 billion (prior view: $4.20-$4.60 billion). Liquidity is now expected to be above $4.5 billion (prior view: $5 billion) in the current year.
LTM currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
Q1 Performances of Other Transportation Companies
Delta Air Lines (DAL) reported first-quarter 2026 earnings (excluding $1.08 from non-recurring items) of 64 cents per share, which beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 61 cents. Earnings increased 39.1% on a year-over-year basis due to high labor costs. Adjusted revenues in the March-end quarter were $14.2 billion, beating the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $14 billion and increasing on a year-over-year basis.
United Airlines Holdings, Inc. (UAL) reported solid first-quarter 2026 results wherein the company’s earnings and revenues beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate as well as improved on a year-over-year basis.
UAL's first-quarter 2026 adjusted earnings per share (EPS) (excluding 95 cents from non-recurring items) of $1.19 surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $1.08 and increased 30.8% on a year-over-year basis. The reported figure lies within the guided range of $1.00-$1.50.
Operating revenues of $14.6 billion outpaced the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $14.3 billion and increased 10.5% year over year. Passenger revenues (which accounted for 90.1% of the top line) increased 11% year over year to $13.1 billion. UAL flights transported 42,486 passengers in the first quarter, up 4.1% year over year.
Cargo revenues fell 1.6% year over year to $422 million. Revenues from other sources rose 10.5% year over year to $1.02 billion.
J.B. Hunt Transport Services JBHT posted first-quarter 2026 earnings per share of $1.49, up 27% from $1.17 a year ago. The results topped the Zacks Consensus Estimate by $0.04, a 2.8% surprise.
Operating revenues totaled $3.06 billion, rising 4.6% year over year. Revenues beat the consensus mark of $2.94 billion, resulting in a 3.9% surprise, as demand proved resilient across several service offerings, led by Intermodal volume growth and higher revenue per load in select highway-related businesses.
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This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).