Although we don't believe in timing the market or panicking over market movements, we do like to keep an eye on big changes -- just in case they're material to our investing thesis.
What: Shares of Atlas Air Worldwide Holdings, Inc. (AAWW) popped 13% Thursday after the outsourced aviation services provider reported solid first-quarter results.
So what: Quarterly operating revenue rose 6.9% year over year to $403.4 million, which translated to net income of $0.32 per share. Analysts, on average, were looking for earnings of just $0.13 per share on sales of $371.68 million.
Now what: Atlas Air Worldwide CEO William Flynn added, "2014 is off to a good start, led by the initiatives we've undertaken to diversify our business mix, expand our aircraft and service offerings, develop new customers and position Atlas to take advantage of market opportunities."
This was a big beat, and I can't blame the market for bidding up Atlas Air today. With shares currently trading around 11 times last year's earnings and 12 times next year's estimates -- and keeping in mind those estimates will likely climb as analysts have time to fully digest today's news -- I think Atlas could still reward long-term investors from here.
