Southwest shares drop 13% after airline cuts full-year profit hopes

Southwest Airlines on Wednesday posted second-quarter earnings and revenue that fell short of Wall Street's estimates but said travel demand has stabilized, echoing other airlines in recent weeks.

Shares were down more than 13% in afternoon trading Thursday.

Here's how Southwest performed in the second quarter compared with Wall Street expectations, according to consensus estimates from LSEG:

Southwest forecast 2025 earnings before taxes at $600 million to $800 million. CEO Bob Jordan said Thursday that the carrier had earlier forecast $1.7 billion.

The carrier pulled its 2025 guidance in April, citing economic uncertainty in the U.S. Similar to other airlines, Southwest said it would cut flights during off-peak periods as carriers grappled with weaker domestic travel demand than expected at the start of the year. Jordan told CNBC last month that there has been more discounting this summer, which is generally the busiest travel period of the year.

""In the last month or so, we have seen the beginning of an inflection back," Jordan told CNBC's "Squawk on the Street" on Thursday. "It's just the macro uncertainty I think that drove that, but the good sign is we're seeing positivity now."

Southwest expects its third-quarter unit revenue, a gauge of airlines' pricing power, to range between a 2% drop to a 2% increase over the same July-through-September period of 2024.

The airline has been overhauling its business model, getting rid of blanket policies such as two free checked bags for all customers and moving from open seating to assigned seats and new boarding orders, which the carrier announced Monday.

Southwest said sales of basic economy suffered on its website after it launched the restrictive new fares in May. It said they have since returned to "expected levels" but that it hurt its unit revenue in the second quarter by half a point and would hurt unit revenue by about a point in the third quarter.

Southwest posted net income of $213 million, or 39 cents per share, in the second quarter. That is down 42% over last year, on sales of $7.24 billion, 1.5% lower than a year earlier. Adjusting for one-time items, Southwest's second-quarter earnings were $230 million, or 43 cents a share, down 38% from last year.

Passenger revenue per seat mile came in at $14.10, below the $14.19 Wall Street had expected, according to Street Account.

The airline also announced a new $2 billion share buyback.