Delta boosts 2025 profit forecast

TheStreet’s Conway Gittens brings you the biggest news of the day, including what investors are watching and why Delta is bullish heading into 2025.

Transcript

00:00I'm Conway Gaines reporting from the New York Stock Exchange.

00:02Here's what we're watching on the street today.

00:04Stocks were roughed up Friday as a stronger-than-expected jobs

00:07report pushes hopes for the next interest rate cut

00:10all the way to October 2025.

00:14The US economy added 256,000 jobs in December.

00:17That's the strongest hiring since March

00:19and way past forecast.

00:22The unemployment rate fell to 4.1%,

00:25while wages jumped 3.9% from a year ago.

00:29Turning to other business headlines,

00:31there are signs of strength coming from the airline sector.

00:34Delta Airlines is predicting 2025 will be a good year.

00:38CEO Ed Bastian told investors, quote,

00:40we expect strong demand for travel

00:43to continue with consumers increasingly

00:45seeking the premium products and experiences

00:48that Delta provides.

00:50The optimism is fueled by trends Delta

00:53saw during the fourth quarter.

00:54Sales were higher than expected thanks

00:56to a pickup in business travel.

00:58And as leisure travelers continue

01:00to choose pricier options, Delta has reconfigured its planes

01:04to add roomier seating near the front of the plane, which

01:07fetch a higher ticket price.

01:10Revenue from those seats, along with business class,

01:12is outpacing the rest of the plane.

01:15Delta is not alone.

01:17The entire industry is enjoying a wave of higher pricing power

01:22as demand outstrips supply.

01:24The YOLO, or You Only Live Once, effect

01:27that fueled travel during the pandemic has yet to abate.

01:31With wages up, the job market resilient,

01:33and middle to higher income consumers feeling wealthy

01:36due to stock market and home price gains,

01:39industry experts expect this travel boom to continue.

01:42Delta is so optimistic that it is forecasting 2025 profits

01:47will be the best in the company's 100-year history.

01:51That'll do it for your daily briefing

01:52from the New York Stock Exchange.

01:54I'm Conway Giddens with The Street.