United Air shares gain a fourth straight session on Monday, carrier revises up first-quarter flight capacity forecast

On April 10th United Continental Holdings Inc (UAL) revised up its first-quarter flight capacity forecast. The carrier now projects capacity to grow 2.6% during the quarter ended on March 31st in comparison with a previous forecast, pointing to a 1-2% growth.

United Air shares closed higher for a fourth consecutive trading session on Monday. The stock went up 0.90% ($0.64) to $71.52, after touching an intraday high at $72.10, or a price level not seen since March 13th ($72.70). In the week ended on April 9th the shares of the transportation company added 0.34% to their market value compared to a week ago, which marked a third consecutive period of gains, but yet, the smallest increase since the week ended on July 24th 2016. The stock has extended its advance to 1.25% so far during the current month, following a 4.66% slump in March. The latter has been the largest monthly decrease since June 2016. For the entire past year, United Air shares gained 27.19%.

According to the company, improving mainline completion factor in Q1, which compares the number of completed flights to the number of scheduled flights, was the reason behind the upward forecast revision.

At the same time, the carrier now projects that its passenger unit revenue, a metric which compares sales to flight capacity, to remain flat in the first quarter compared to the same period a year ago.

“Better than expected close-in traffic in March offset higher than anticipated completion factor in the quarter”, United Continental Holdings Inc said in a reference to its passenger unit revenue, cited by Reuters.

According to CNN Money, the 17 analysts, offering 12-month forecasts regarding United Air’s stock price, have a median target of $82.00, with a high estimate of $105.00 and a low estimate of $74.00. The median estimate is a 14.65% surge compared to the closing price of $71.52 on April 10th.

The same media also reported that 9 out of 18 surveyed investment analysts had rated United Air’ stock as “Buy”, while 8 – as “Hold”.

Daily and Weekly Pivot Levels

With the help of the Camarilla calculation method, todays levels of importance for the United Air stock are presented as follows:

R1 – $71.69
R2 – $71.86
R3 (Range Resistance – Sell) – $72.03
R4 (Long Breakout) – $72.54
R5 (Breakout Target 1) – $73.13
R6 (Breakout Target 2) – $73.40

S1 – $71.35
S2 – $71.18
S3 (Range Support – Buy) – $71.01
S4 (Short Breakout) – $70.50
S5 (Breakout Target 1) – $69.91
S6 (Breakout Target 2) – $69.64

By using the traditional method of calculation, the weekly levels of importance for United Continental Holdings Inc (UAL) are presented as follows:

Central Pivot Point – $70.57
R1 – $71.73
R2 – $72.57
R3 – $73.73
R4 – $74.88

S1 – $69.73
S2 – $68.57
S3 – $67.73
S4 – $66.88