“JetBlue Airways Corp. (JBLU) fell the most in about two months after fourth-quarter profit tumbled 96 percent, more than analysts projected, as superstorm Sandy forced flightcancellations and reduced travel demand.
JetBlue dropped 1.9 percent to $6.11 at 10:14 a.m. in New York, after earlier falling as much as 5.4 percent, the largest intraday decline since Nov. 14.
More than half of JetBlue’s departures are from New York’s John F. Kennedy International and the carrier was forced to cancel 1,700 flights there and at other airports over five days in October when Sandy hit the northeastern U.S. People living in the area were slow to resume travel in November, the carrier has said.
“Overall an uninspiring quarter, in our view, though not particularly surprising given heavy New York concentration and significant short-term demand pressures associated with Hurricane Sandy,” Jamie Baker, a JPMorgan Chase & Co. analyst in New York, said in a report today.
Net income dropped to $1 million, or break-even on a per- share basis, from $23 million, or 8 cents, a year earlier, the New York-based carrier said in a statement today. That compared with the 2-cents-a-share average estimate from nine analysts, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
Sales rose 4.2 percent to $1.19 billion from $1.15 billion a year earlier as passenger traffic increased 4.3 percent….”
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