American Airlines gives upbeat full-year guidance, lifting shares

American Airlines gave a rosy projection for full-year earnings that has the stock taking to the skies on Tuesday.

For the full year, American forecast adjusted earnings of between $1.70 and $2.70 per share, putting the midpoint of $2.20 significantly higher than analysts’ consensus estimate of $1.97 per share. The carrier also guided for more than $2 billion in free cash flow in 2026, more than double Wall Street’s expectations.

American shares are up about 3.2% in premarket trading as of 7:35 a.m. ET, after the release of its fourth-quarter and full-year earnings reports, which included the guidance.

The airline’s earnings for the quarter missed Wall Street’s expectations, with adjusted earnings of $0.16 per share. Analysts polled by FactSet expected $0.37 per share.

American, the third of the big four US airlines to cap off its 2025 fiscal year, said it expects a loss of between $0.10 and $0.50 per share in the first quarter of 2026. Analysts expected a loss of $0.29 per share.

Passenger revenue reached $12.66 billion in Q4, up 2.1% from last year but below estimates of $12.72 billion. American produced an adjusted operating margin of 3.5% in the quarter, compared to 8.4% in the same quarter a year ago.

American also announced a $325 million hit to its revenue from the government shutdown.

And it said the winter storm that has caused widespread cancellations this week will negatively impact revenue by between $150 million and $200 million.