Shares of
Sabre Corporation
SABR
fell more than 2% on Tuesday after the provider of software and technology solutions to travel industry reported a wider-than-expected loss for fourth-quarter 2020. The company’s adjusted loss per share of 77 cents came in much wider than the Zacks Consensus Estimate of a loss of 67 cents. The bottom-line figure also compares unfavorably with the year-ago quarter’s earnings of 16 cents per share.
The company’s revenues plunged to $314 million from the $941 million reported in the fourth quarter of 2019. Revenues were primarily affected by significant reductions in air, hotel and other travel bookings due to the coronavirus pandemic’s adverse impact on the global travel industry. However, the top-line figure surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $302.9 million.
Revenue Details
Travel Network revenues plunged 69% year over year to $276 million mainly on unprecedented disruptions in travel due to the pandemic. Distribution revenues slumped 79% to $131 million.
During the reported quarter, the company’s total bookings plummeted 79% to 26.31 million, chiefly due to a sharp decline of 80% in net air bookings and a fall of 79% in lodging, ground, and sea bookings.
Sabre Corporation Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise
Sabre Corporation price-consensus-eps-surprise-chart
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Sabre Corporation Quote
IT Solutions revenues came in at $145 million, down 40% from the year-ago quarter, primarily on a 55% plunge in reservation revenues, and 25% in commercial and operations revenues. Numbers of boarded airline passengers, a key revenue metric for IT Solutions division, tanked 58% on a year-over-year basis.
The Hospitality Solutions segment’s revenues plunged 41%, year on year, to $41 million chiefly on a 40% decline in central reservation system transactions.
The company reported adjusted operating loss of $169 million, as against the operating income of $98 million recorded in the year-earlier period.
Full-Year 2020 Highlights
Sabre’s revenues tumbled 66% year over year to $1.3 billion in 2020. The company posted an adjusted loss of $3.18 per share for the year, as against the adjusted earnings of $1.01 per share registered in 2019.
Balance Sheet and Cash Flow
Sabre ended the fourth quarter with cash and cash equivalents of $1.50 billion compared with the previous quarter’s $1.67 billion.
During the full year, the company used $770 million of cash for operational activities and generated negative free cash flow of $836 million.
Zacks Rank & Stocks to Consider
Sabre currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).
Better-ranked stocks in the broader technology sector include
Zoom Video Communications
ZM
,
Facebook
FB
and
Apple
AAPL
, all flaunting a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) at present. You can see
the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here
.
The long-term earnings growth rate for Zoom, Facebook and Apple is currently pegged at 25%, 19.2% and 11.5%, respectively.
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