United Continental Shares Slump After Results, Pacing a Decline In The Dow Transports
United Continental Holdings Inc.'s stock slumped 4% in afternoon trade, enough to make it the biggest decliner on the Dow Jones Transportation Average , after the air carrier reported first-quarter results. The United Airlines' parent's stock-price decline of $2.86 shaved about 16 points off the Dow transports, which were down 0.35%. Chief Financial Officer Andrew Levy said in the post-earnings-report conference call with analysts Tuesday that the carrier's corporate customers have expressed concern over last week's event, in which a passenger was dragged forcibly off a plane to make room for traveling United employees. "They want us to fix this. They want us to do the right thing," Levy said, according to a transcript of the call provided by FactSet. He said the concerns have been managed well and the corporate accounts are largely supportive. Chief Executive Oscar Munoz said the carrier was involving its front-line employees and some customers to help take a more "commonsense" approach. He plans to communicate on April 30 the results of the review and actions to be taken in response to last week's event. The stock has shed 6.8% in 2017, while the NYSE Arca Airline Index has eased 0.1%, the Dow transports have slipped 1% and the S&P 500 has gained 4.7%
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