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Southwest Airlines presented its quarterly earnings Thursday. The numbers weren’t great — net income was nearly halved from a year ago to $367 million despite a record $7.3 billion in revenue — and with hedge fund Elliott Management mounting a takeover campaign the company knows it has to do something.
The period also painted a picture of a company going through a bit of an identity crisis. Southwest confirmed that it’s getting rid of its signature free-for-all seating and boarding policies, plus it’s shedding its budget bonafides by introducing a larger selection of more-legroom tickets.
“These initiatives are part of a comprehensive strategic transformation and reflect a commitment and my personal commitment to deliver an implementing plan aimed at driving shareholder value,” CEO Bob Jordan said during his discussion of the quarter with analysts. In fact, he said the word “transformation” 14 times on the call, including a shoutout to Ryan Green, the company’s former chief commercial officer who now carries the title “executive vice president of commercial transformation.”
Southwest has been in difficult straits for a minute; it hasn’t strung together more than two positive net income numbers in a row since 2021, and Jordan said on the earnings call that “our research shows that 80% of our customers prefer an assigned seat, and 86% of our potential customers prefer an assigned seat.” But it’s not quite clear how investors are taking all this change. The carrier’s shares were up 5.5% on Thursday, but in Friday trading they’re down about 3%.
TD Cowen analyst Thomas Fitzgerland, whose take carried the subject line “2Q BEATS LOWERED BAR” — Southwest abruptly cut its guidance for this earnings period a month ago — said that “the commercial initiatives, while needed, are unlikely to sufficiently turn the tide,” and that his bank expects “investors to grow concerned about the airline navigating a strategic overhaul during a period of sustained losses/slight profits.”
Elliott Management, the most vocally concerned of those shareholders, was undaunted in its calls for a clean sweep of Southwest management and new blood on its board of directors.
“Southwest can do far better, and we look forward to offering our fellow shareholders an opportunity to elect a Board of industry leaders that can return Southwest to best-in-class performance,” the fund said in a statement.