Tepid outlook overshadows strong Delta profit in 4Q

Delta Air Lines' surging profit is being overshadowed by tepid expectations for the current quarter.

The Atlanta carrier on Tuesday reported fourth-quarter profit of $1.02 billion, or $1.49 per share. Earnings, adjusted for non-recurring gains, were $1.30 per share, or 3 cents better than was expected by analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research.

The airline posted revenue of $10.74 billion in the period, just shy of expectations.

Delta Air Lines Inc. expects full-year earnings to be $6 to $7 per share, but its per-share profit expectations of 70 to 90 cents per share for the current quarter were a little weaker than Wall Street had expected.

This story was generated by Automated Insights (http://automatedinsights.com/ap) using data from Zacks Investment Research. Access a Zacks stock report on DAL at https://www.zacks.com/ap/DAL