United Airlines Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:UAL, XETRA:UAL1) shares fell about 2% after the carrier issued third quarter earnings guidance below Wall Street expectations, despite reporting second quarter results that topped analyst estimates and raising its full-year adjusted earnings…
tlook. For the third quarter, United forecast adjusted earnings of $2.50 to $3.50 per share, with the midpoint of $3 falling below analysts’ consensus estimate of approximately $3.60 per share
The company raised its full-year adjusted earnings per share guidance to a range of $9 to $11. United said it now expects nearly $6 billion in additional fuel costs for full-year 2026 compared with expectations at the start of the year. Fuel expense rose $2.3 billion, or 84%, year over year in the second quarter.
The company said it recovered about half of that increase during the quarter and expects to recover 80% to 90% in the third quarter and fully recover the increase by the fourth quarter. The airline reported adjusted diluted earnings of $1.99 per share for the second quarter on total operating revenue of $17.67 billion. The results exceeded Wall Street expectations of adjusted earnings between $1.85 and $1.89 per share on revenue of about $17.62 billion.