Delta beats 1Q profit forecasts

ATLANTA (AP) — ATLANTA (AP) — Delta Air Lines Inc. (DAL) on Wednesday reported first-quarter earnings of $603 million.

The Atlanta-based company said it had profit of 82 cents per share. Earnings, adjusted for non-recurring gains, were 77 cents per share.

The results surpassed Wall Street expectations. The average estimate of nine analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for earnings of 73 cents per share.

The airline posted revenue of $9.15 billion in the period, missing Street forecasts. Four analysts surveyed by Zacks expected $9.16 billion.

Delta shares have dropped nearly 8 percent since the beginning of the year, while the Standard & Poor's 500 index has risen 5 percent. The stock has fallen nearly 3 percent in the last 12 months.

This story was generated by Automated Insights (http://automatedinsights.com/ap) using data from Zacks Investment Research. Access a Zacks stock report on DAL at https://www.zacks.com/ap/DAL

Keywords: Delta Air Lines, Earnings Report, Priority Earnings