Why did Delta Airlines stock plummet today?

James D. Morgan/Getty Images News

Delta Air Lines (DAL -12.9%) slumped on Monday as investors priced in the prospect of higher jet fuel prices and reset expectations for Q1 profitability lower. Trading volume on Delta was over 26M shares.

"The higher fuel will more than wipe out better revenue near-term resulting in modest reductions to 1Q22 estimates," warned MKM Partners analyst Conor Cunningham on the development.

It is unclear if Delta operating its own refinery will position it better than peers that hedged fuel costs.

Shares of Delta Air Line (NYSE:DAL) hit a new 52-week low of $30.03 as the Ukraine-Russia headlines and the prospect for higher jet fuel prices continued to power down expectations for a full post-pandemic recovery in the summer of 2022.

Comments

[Tim Dunn]

Airline stocks including DAL are up today even though fuel continues to increase. Yesterday's selloff of airlines was overdone - as is often the case.

[Vamos Azul]

Been waiting since March 2020 for a chance like this. Loaded up today and will CA if needed till it finds a runway to take off from.

[MarketMaker58]

@Vamos Azul I'm waiting until ~$25/share (I believe DAL went down to ~$23 when COVID lockdowns hit), but I hear you. This is a great company and certainly one of the best airlines in the US.

[firstStrike001]

@MarketMaker58 remember no bailout package this time.

[MarketMaker58]

@firstStrike001 They won't need it. They have a strong cache of $$$ and their own refinery. Rocky in the short term, but they'll be fine.

[Jamie Samans]

All travel and entertainment shares went down sharply today. Cinemark lost 13% today coming out of a weekend that brought another huge opening for a new release, after posting surprise profits in Q4.

[Jonk]

Eventually there will be plenty of oil again. There is more oil around than just what comesout of russia, that's for sure. So sit tight and don't freak.

[Peterso21]

@Jonk everyone is panicking it’s nuts

[User 50621003]

I opened a position at close today. With all the pent-up demand it's hard to imagine that people don't just eat higher ticket prices, and Delta is one of my fave airlines. This will bounce back.

[Uncle K]

@generalpurpose Agree that Delta will bounce back as it's a well run outfit in an industry where that is rare. But it's dead money until it does bounce and my crystal ball is murky.

[recurring_rev]

Huge buying opportunity… flights are packed already and significant pent up demand for travel will drive this stock to double or triple by end of the year.