easyJet's profits beat forecasts but shares fell. What alerted investors?

British budget airline EasyJet beat profit and revenue forecasts, but the market reacted by selling its shares. Investors were alerted by a decline in flight yields and a warning of weak winter sales. This was despite a rise in results from the travel division and plans to increase traffic through accelerating deliveries of new planes.

EasyJet has reported a higher-than-expected operating profit for its full fiscal year ending September 30, 2025. For the year, the figure rose to 703 million pounds ($921.1 million), compared with analysts' forecast of 669.37 million pounds, according to LSEG, Reuters wrote.

EasyJet's annual pretax profit was 665 million pounds ($872 million), up 9% from a year earlier. Analysts polled by Bloomberg had forecast 652.9 million pounds. Revenue rose 7% to 3.65 billion pounds ($4.8 billion). According to the consensus forecast of Visible Alpha, analysts expected 3.64 billion pounds, notes The Wall Street Journal.

The company also raised the medium-term target for its travel unit, EasyJet holidays, and expects to generate 450 million pounds of pre-tax profit by 2030, after hitting a previous medium-term target of 250 million pounds this year, Bloomberg added.

"We are well positioned to take advantage of the significant opportunities ahead and are confident of achieving our medium-term target of over 1 billion pounds of pre-tax profit," said CEO Kenton Jarvis, he was quoted as saying in a company statement.

Shares in easyJet were down 4.5% in London trading on Nov. 25. Investors were disappointed by a nearly 3% drop in the revenue the airline gets from every available seat for every kilometer flown, Reuters notes. The carrier also warned of a possible weakening in winter sales.

The travel arm has helped easyJet strengthen results in recent years, with demand for fixed-price package tours among cost-sensitive customers growing again, supporting the entire airline sector, Reuters notes.

EasyJet, which operates an Airbus fleet with CFM engines, has avoided many of the problems experienced by other airlines due to maintenance delays at engine maker Pratt & Whitney, Reuters also reports.

EasyJet's passenger transportation capabilities are being helped by accelerating deliveries of planes from Airbus. According to Jarvis, the airline received nine planes from the European manufacturer in fiscal 2025 and expects to receive 17 planes next year, Bloomberg reported. As a result, capacity (in terms of available passenger kilometers) should grow about 7 percent in 2026.

Delivering new planes at the same time carries risk. EasyJet is awaiting the arrival of 17 new machines with a delay of five to six months. Jarvis said the company was due to receive the planes by the end of winter, but the delay means they will not be able to fully service the increased summer demand. Slower-than-expected deliveries of new planes have become a major obstacle to growth for airlines around the world, as both Airbus and U.S. aircraft maker Boeing face supply chain and production problems, Bloomberg writes.

"The only inconvenience is the timing of deliveries. We are still suffering a bit because of the problems at Airbus," the top manager said.

The most popular recommendation on EasyJet shares is "buy," with the securities having eight Buy and three Overweight ratings versus six Hold (advice to "hold") and one Sell ("sell"), The Wall Street Journal shows.

This article was AI-translated and verified by a human editor