AMR Earnings: $162M Loss

[eolesen]

Operating profit of $39M, which is the only shred of good news here... Cash still at $4.8B, but net debt is $1B higher than a year ago.


Reuters:


http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/10/19/amr-idUSN1E79H19S20111019

Oct 19 (Reuters) - AMR Corp , parent of American Airlines, reported on Wednesday a quarterly loss as the company was pressured by high fuel costs and volatile foreign exchange rates.

The company said its third-quarter net loss amounted to $162 million, or 48 cents per share, compared with a profit of $143 million, or 39 cents per share, a year earlier.

AA's version:

http://aa.mediaroom.com/index.php?s=43&item=3362


A bit disappointed that there's really nothing else being announced here in terms of guidance or changes, other than the 757 retirements already announced.

Not entirely surprised, either.

 

[jimntx]

There will be further information forthcoming when they announce the "it coulda been worse" bonusses.

 

[WorldTraveler]

actually AA said they had good RASM performance in Latin America - which not surprisingly is where they reduced the greatest amount of capacity. They also reduced capacity domestically and saw a decent RASM bump there.

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AA also said that now that they are being forced to reduce capacity, their unit costs (CASM) without fuel will go up 6-7% in the next quarter.
Many will remember that AA refused to reduce capacity despite analyst suggestions that it was necessary - and was what other carriers were doing.
As I noted, it is apparent that AA's desire to keep capacity in the market was driven by its inability to get costs out if it removed capacity.
The fact that they expect CASM to rise significantly says they are playing a unit cost game at the expense of revenue performance.
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IN other words, the only way AA has been able to improve its revenue performance is by reducing capacity...

doesn't provide a whole lot of confidence that AA can grow the airline... but says a whole lot that there will be a whole lot of cost cutting necessary just to stay afloat - let alone grow.
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AMR added a billion dollars worth of debt to its balance sheet over the past year.
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AMR is the first major airline to report so we can compare AA's performance as the rest of the industry reports.

 

[eolesen]

Wrong. AA is the second major airline to report. Hawaiian announced a $25M profit yesterday.

 

[WorldTraveler]

Wrong. AA is the second major airline to report. Hawaiian announced a $25M profit yesterday.

AA is not considered by the DOT in the same class of airlines as Hawaiian.

AA's peers as defined by the DOT are AK, CO (who still reports separately), DL, UA, and US.
.
Tripping over gnats but unable to see the elephant standing 2 feet away.

 

[MCI transplant]

<_< ------- Looking more like TWA everyday!!! :unsure:

 

[Maark767]

<_< ------- Looking more like TWA everyday!!! :unsure:

Scary but true..... Maybe AA will seek BK and shrink by 20%. Then layoff about 4500 employees and be bought by USAirways.

 

[damajagua]

It just baffle me that the BOD of this company wont do anything.
It's time to replace Arpey. Arpey has lost all kind of credibility.
Employees as well as the financial community do not have
any faith on his leadership skills. It's time for the BOD
of AMR to wake up and replace him.

 

[FWAAA]

It just baffle me that the BOD of this company wont do anything.
It's time to replace Arpey. Arpey has lost all kind of credibility.
Employees as well as the financial community do not have
any faith on his leadership skills. It's time for the BOD
of AMR to wake up and replace him.

There have been several people banging this same drum on other websites for the past year or so. They post repeatedly that the stockholders ought to demand management changes and that the board should listen to them - completely ignoring the reality that what will fix AA's primary deficiency right now (higher unit costs than its competitors, including higher employee labor costs) will result in a complete cancellation of the stock in a Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

Ray Neidl and the other "financial community" blowhards will later today criticize Arpey and Horton for their failure in the third quarter - just like they've done for the past four quarters - even though most people realize that AMR will eventually be forced to reorganize in Ch 11. Unless, of course, the represented workgroups voluntarily agree to give up more outside of Ch 11 - which is as likely as pigs flying.

 

[Maark767]

It just baffle me that the BOD of this company wont do anything.
It's time to replace Arpey. Arpey has lost all kind of credibility.
Employees as well as the financial community do not have
any faith on his leadership skills. It's time for the BOD
of AMR to wake up and replace him.

Is it me or are his quarterly statements just a repeat of the same old problems past down from quarter to quarter. Really??? The BODs need to react and get him out!

 

[USA320Pilot]

AMR Misses Estimates as Fuel Costs Rise

Click here to read the article.

 

[WorldTraveler]

There have been several people banging this same drum on other websites for the past year or so. They post repeatedly that the stockholders ought to demand management changes and that the board should listen to them - completely ignoring the reality that what will fix AA's primary deficiency right now (higher unit costs than its competitors, including higher employee labor costs) will result in a complete cancellation of the stock in a Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

Ray Neidl and the other "financial community" blowhards will later today criticize Arpey and Horton for their failure in the third quarter - just like they've done for the past four quarters - even though most people realize that AMR will eventually be forced to reorganize in Ch 11. Unless, of course, the represented workgroups voluntarily agree to give up more outside of Ch 11 - which is as likely as pigs flying.

but it didn't have to be this way... and AMR is apparently not resigned to a C11 filing, esp. since the only significant benefit they can obtain in C11 is labor cost reductions.
.
Of course everyone is "our enemy" when they expect results 8 years after AA started its out of court restructuring.
.
And the longer it takes AA to develop the leadership to fix the problem, the less value the enterprise will have when it comes out the other side.

 

[Frank Szabo]

Is it me or are his quarterly statements just a repeat of the same old problems past down from quarter to quarter. Really??? The BODs need to react and get him out!

Boren and company are far too busy worrying about where their OU football team is going to land - they couldn't care less about this.

Let's remember also that Arpey's daddy was an exec at another airline - perhaps his continuing employment is nothing more than repaying favors or a measure of "professional courtesy" amongst liars and thieves.

Consider - perhaps the large institutional holders are slowly and quietly divesting themselves of their holdings (if they haven't already done so to the extent they can and not appear obviously tipped) and is possibly the only reason for AMR to not have filed for Chapter 11 protection - yet. I personally believe those large holders were well taken care of during the previous "crisis" and have been given plenty of warning now - not saying that's the case for certain but that's what I believe.

Yes, I know it's supposedly illegal but that's what business is all about, isn't it? Doing everyone one can within and without of the law without getting caught (and the easy ones twice), making one's pile, and running like hell to the next gig.

Before you business boys start telling us how this "ain't so" and how often "appearances are deceiving", might I remind you fellows of the numerous examples of such over the many years we've been watching and being bent over the proverbial barrel by the cretinous SOBs?

The company be damned along with the shareholders (to the benefit of the executives), that is, unless those shareholders can "rise from the pit and bite thine ass".

Re: Executive "concessions": Tree, rope, executive - some assembly required.

 

[ULM148]

The fact that AA has lost money 8 consecutive years in a row and still held it's board along with Arpey tells it all. No plan, no accountability, no leadership. I can't think of another company that would allow this, especially in todays economic climate. What did you do at AA? ... I ran the company into the ground for a decade and played a key role in it's demise...... how great is that life.

 

[FWAAA]

The fact that AA has lost money 8 consecutive years in a row and still held it's board along with Arpey tells it all. No plan, no accountability, no leadership. I can't think of another company that would allow this, especially in todays economic climate. What did you do at AA? ... I ran the company into the ground for a decade and played a key role in it's demise...... how great is that life.

Congrats! On just your 12th post here you manage to post incorrect nonsense and brand it as "fact."

AA hasn't lost money for "8 consecutive years in a row."

AMR reported annual profits in 2006 and 2007.