Southwest Airlines reported its first quarter 2016 results. The company psoted record first quarter net income, excluding special items, of $567 million.
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This is or $.88 per diluted share, compared with first quarter 2015 net income, excluding special items, of $451 million, or $.66 per diluted share. This exceeded the First Call consensus estimate of $.84 per diluted share.
Other highlights:
- Record first quarter GAAP net income of $511 million, or $.79 per diluted share, compared with first quarter 2015 GAAP net income of $453 million, or $.66 per diluted share.
- Record first quarter GAAP operating income of $944 million. Excluding special items, record first quarter operating income of $952 million, resulting in a strong first quarter operating margin3 of 19.7 percent.
- Record first quarter free cash flow1 of $1.2 billion; returned $596 million to Shareholders through the combination of dividends and share repurchases.
- Return on invested capital, before taxes and excluding special items (ROIC)1, for the 12 months ended March 31, 2016, of 33.4 percent, compared with 25.6 percent for the 12 months ended March 31, 2015.
Gary C. Kelly, chairman, president, and CEO, stated, "We are delighted to report an outstanding start to 2016. Our first quarter net income, excluding special items, increased 25.7 percent to a first quarter record $567 million, or $.88 per diluted share.
"Our strong operating income produced a first quarter operating margin, excluding special items, of 19.7 percent, driven largely by record first quarter operating revenues and lower fuel prices.
"We generated record first quarter free cash flow of $1.2 billionand returned $596 millionto Shareholders through the combination of dividends and share buybacks during first quarter 2016.
"Next month, we expect to complete the repurchase of the remaining $200 million under our existing $1.5 billionshare repurchase authorization
" For the twelve months ended March 31, 2016, our ROIC was an exceptional 33.4 percent. My congratulations to our superb Employees on these tremendous results and their record first quarter profitsharing accrual of $155 million." ■