MW United Airlines just tweaked its profit outlook for the year. It's still not enough for the stock.

By Claudia Assis

United's stock drops after earnings

United Airlines Holdings Inc. late Wednesday refined its 2025 profit outlook, joining Delta Air Lines Inc. in giving investors some hope for the industry, but a mixed earnings snapshot and lingering macroeconomic concerns left the stock under pressure.

United called for adjusted earnings between $9 a share and $11 a share for the year, saying the tweak comes amid "less geopolitical and macroeconomic uncertainty" and the "resilience" of its brand-loyal, revenue-diverse business. Demand has picked up in July, it said.

United's stock (UAL) dropped more than 2% in the extended session Wednesday before paring some of those losses. It ended the regular trading day up more than 2%.

The airline in April took the unusual step of giving Wall Street two outlooks for the year: one under a "stable environment" and the other under a "recessionary environment," saying economic trends were impossible to predict.

April was a particularly difficult month, with President Donald Trump enacting steep tariffs only to offer a reprieve in some cases. In addition, problems at the Newark, N.J., airport, one of United's main hubs, started to hamper operations in earnest in late April.

This time around, United said that it saw more demand starting in early July, including more demand for business travel, than in the second quarter.

As for the second quarter itself, the airline said it saw revenue increases in several of its revenue streams, including a 6% year-on-year increase for premium-cabin revenue and a 2% increase from its basic economy seats.

"I am extremely proud of the team for executing a strong operation and navigating through a volatile macroeconomic period, while still growing earnings and pre-tax margin for the first half of the year," United Chief Executive Scott Kirby said in a statement.

"The world is less uncertain today than it was during the first six months of 2025 and that gives us confidence about a strong finish to the year," he said.

Wall Street has thrown doubts onto a second-half-of-the-year rally recently.

Newark is back to "its leading place in our operation, and customer demand there has returned to its historic range," United said. Service to Tel Aviv, Israel, will resume July 21, it added.

The airline reported adjusted earnings of $3.87 a share on revenue of $15.2 billion, which was nearly 2% higher than the year-ago revenue. Analysts surveyed by FactSet had expected adjusted earnings of $3.81 a share on sales of $15.4 billion.

Delta Air Lines $(DAL.UK)$ kicked off U.S. airlines' second-quarter earnings season last week, reporting a better-than-expected April-June period.

American Airlines Group Inc. $(AAL.UK)$ is scheduled to report earnings on July 24.

-Claudia Assis

This content was created by MarketWatch, which is operated by Dow Jones & Co. MarketWatch is published independently from Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal.

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

July 16, 2025 16:55 ET (20:55 GMT)

Copyright (c) 2025 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.