Delta Air shares close higher on Tuesday, company to purchase 12 Airbus A220 jets

Delta Air Lines (DAL) said on Tuesday it would purchase 12 new A220-300 aircraft from Europe’s Airbus.

“These additional aircraft in the A220 family are an excellent investment for our customers and employees and will be fundamental as we work toward a more sustainable future for air travel,” Mahendra Nair, Delta Air’s senior vice president, was quoted as saying by Reuters.

At present, the air carrier has 11 A220-300 jets in service and 51 on order.

Earlier this week, Delta also said it would purchase 100 Boeing 737 MAX 10 aircraft valued at $13.5 billion at list prices and it has options to purchase additional 30.

Delta Air shares closed higher for a fourth consecutive trading session in New York on Tuesday. It has also been the sharpest single-session gain since July 12th. The stock went up 4.69% ($1.46) to $32.60, after touching an intraday high at $32.73. The latter has been a price level not seen since June 15th ($32.74).

The shares of Delta Air Lines Inc have retreated 16.58% so far in 2022 compared with a 17.40% loss for the benchmark index, S&P 500 (SPX).

In 2021, Delta Air’s stock went down 2.81%, thus, it underperformed the S&P 500, which registered a 26.89% gain.

Analyst stock price forecast and recommendation

According to TipRanks, at least 10 out of 12 surveyed investment analysts had rated Delta Air Lines Inc’s stock as “Buy”, while 2 – as “Hold”. The median price target on the stock stands at $50.09.