United Air Tries New Time for Investor Talk After October Fiasco

(Bloomberg) -- United Continental Holdings Inc. is trying a new schedule for its post-earnings discussion with Wall Street after last quarter’s conference call sent the airline’s stock cratering.

Chief Executive Officer Oscar Munoz and President Scott Kirby are set to detail their 2018 plans to investors after announcing fourth-quarter results at the close of trading Tuesday. Their conference call on the morning of Oct. 19 touched off United’s biggest slide since 2009 as they failed to reassure investors that they would curb cost increases and shore up pricing power.

The upcoming presentations at 4:30 p.m. in New York mark a change for United, which typically follows up earnings reports with an analyst call the next day and discusses long-term plans at separate events. While United didn’t explain its reasons for the shift, the new schedule will give shareholders additional time to study the company’s outlook before regular trading resumes on Wednesday.

One thing’s for sure: Munoz and Kirby have already been winning back respect in the market. A rally in the shares has more than made up for the swoon in October. Since the fateful conference call, United has posted the biggest gain by far in a Standard & Poor’s index of major U.S. airlines.

To contact the reporter on this story: Michael Sasso in Atlanta at msasso9@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Brendan Case at bcase4@bloomberg.net, Tony Robinson

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