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Wednesday's Exclusive Story

Delta's Double Miss Is a Warning for Airline Stocks

Author: Jessica Mitacek. Article Posted: 4/13/2026.

Key Points

Despite record quarterly revenue, Delta reported a double miss for Q1 2026, driven in part by a 132% year-over-year spike in jet fuel prices caused by geopolitical instability and the closure of the Strait of Hormuz.
The airline aims to offset rising costs through fleet modernization and its unique ownership of a fuel refinery.
Delta has issued cautiously optimistic Q2 guidance, expecting to recover 40% to 50% of the “unprecedented” fuel headwinds while maintaining margins of 6% to 8% in Q2.
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Delta Air Lines (NYSE: DAL) reported Q1 2026 results on Wednesday, April 8, delivering a double miss — falling short of both earnings and revenue expectations.

In his earnings call comments, CEO Ed Bastian highlighted the impact of “the significant step-up in fuel” and acknowledged that the airline faces “several external headwinds.”

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Those headwinds include fallout from the Iran war and the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, which has disrupted global energy supply chains and contributed to a sharp rise in crude oil prices. For aviation specifically, jet fuel prices are up about 132% year-over-year (YOY).

Delta’s misses should serve as a warning for the broader transportation industry within the industrials sector, since higher input costs are likely to pressure margins at companies that rely heavily on oil. They also underscore a familiar airline risk: when jet fuel spikes, robust demand can be outweighed by rising costs.

Delta Posts Earnings and Revenue Miss for Q1

The Q1 results weren't uniformly negative. Bastian noted adjusted earnings that were 40% higher YOY — in line with Delta’s guidance at the start of the year — and record quarterly revenue, which rose more than 9% YOY.

Still, some trends were hard to ignore. Delta’s year-over-year revenue growth has declined each year since 2021, sliding from nearly 75% then to just 2.79% in 2025.

Earnings per share (EPS) of $0.64 missed analyst expectations by $0.06, and revenue of $14.20 billion missed the consensus by more than $497 million, raising concerns about the company’s ability to accelerate revenue growth in 2026.

Delta attributes the quarterly shortfalls to near-term headwinds. Management said the conflict in the Middle East pushed Q2 jet-fuel assumptions to roughly $4.30 per gallon — about double the level in Q2 2025 — and expects more than $2 billion in incremental fuel expense during the current quarter.

Despite Headwinds, Delta Issues Cautiously Optimistic Q2 Guidance

Delta says it plans to offset between 40% and 50% of that fuel headwind, a meaningful amount given Bastian’s description of the jet-fuel spike as “unprecedented.” Through its vertically integrated refinery, the company could offset up to roughly $300 million of jet-fuel costs. Delta is the only U.S.-based airline that owns refining operations, having acquired the Trainer Refinery from Phillips 66 (NYSE: PSX) in 2012 to secure supply and better manage fuel-price volatility.

Bastian added that the company’s focus “is on what we can control: running a reliable operation, taking care of our people and customers, and protecting our margins and cash flow.”

Accordingly, Delta issued cautiously optimistic Q2 guidance, including:

YOY revenue growth: low-teens
Operating margin: 6% to 8%
EPS: $1.00 to $1.50 per share

With a forward price-to-earnings ratio of 8.93, Delta’s EPS is expected to grow nearly 9% over the next year, from $7.63 to $8.28. Those expectations are supported by fleet modernization plans that include 95 aircraft on order and eight deliveries in Q1.

Wall Street Remains Bullish on Delta

Despite the Q1 miss, Wall Street sentiment remains largely favorable: 24 of 26 analysts covering the stock rate DAL a Buy, and the consensus opinion is a Moderate Buy.

The stock’s consensus 12-month price target is $79.14, implying roughly 16% upside from current levels and positioning it above the 52-week high of $76.39.

Current short interest stands at 3.7%, indicating limited bearish conviction. Last month, $971 million of DAL shares were shorted, down from a five-year high of $2.27 billion in December 2024.

Institutional ownership has remained robust over the past 12 months, with 915 buyers versus 554 sellers and net inflows of about $2.41 billion (inflows of $6.41 billion versus outflows of $4.00 billion).

Wednesday's Exclusive Story

These 3 ETFs Are Suitable for Ultra-Bearish Investors

Author: Nathan Reiff. Article Posted: 4/11/2026.

Key Points

The field of inverse leveraged ETFs is growing, and -3x funds are available with a range of strategies incorporating industry-specific themes down to single-stock approaches.
Tech bears may find that WEBS, FNGD, and RGTZ provide negative leveraged exposure to different segments of the space.
WEBS is the broadest of these, focusing on a group of around 40 internet companies, while RGTZ is the narrowest with -2x leveraged exposure to Rigetti Computing.
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In April 2026, investors have plenty of reasons to be bearish. Uncertainties around the Iran war and the energy market, along with questions about the future of artificial intelligence and its implications for the workforce, leave many looking for ways to profit if markets deteriorate.

Investors convinced a downturn is coming and willing to accept significant risk may consider exchange-traded funds (ETFs) that profit from market declines: bearish leveraged ETFs.

The three funds below offer exposure ranging from broad industries to single stocks, allowing bearish investors to tailor their positions to match their market outlook.

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The Direxion Daily Dow Jones Internet Bear 3X Shares (NYSEARCA: WEBS) is a 3x inverse leveraged play on the Dow Jones Internet Composite Index.

The index targets companies that derive at least half of their sales from the internet and have a three-month market-capitalization average of at least $100 million.

Despite that definition, the index covers a wide range of tech and consumer firms — from retailers like Amazon.com (NASDAQ: AMZN) to networking and hardware names like Arista Networks (NYSE: ANET) to streamers like Netflix Inc. (NASDAQ: NFLX). In total, the index holds roughly 40 names.

WEBS seeks -3x the index's daily return. That means if the index falls 1% in a trading day, WEBS aims to rise about 3%; if the index rises 1%, WEBS would fall about 3%.

The fund is high-risk — like most leveraged ETFs — because its leverage resets daily, which requires active position management to avoid volatility decay. In exchange for that risk, WEBS offers a dividend yield of 2.6% and the potential for large single-day gains, all for an expense ratio of 1.07%, which is fairly modest compared with some other leveraged products.

A Narrower Focus for Inverse Leveraged Exposure to FANG+ Stocks

The FANG+ companies may have cooled in hype, but they still represent an outsized share of the market and influence the S&P 500's performance.

For investors expecting a drop in this concentrated segment, the MicroSectors FANG+ Index -3X Inverse Leveraged ETN (NYSEARCA: FNGD) provides another -3x leveraged vehicle that seeks to deliver the inverse of the NYSE FANG+ Index's daily return.

The index comprises 10 major tech names, including the traditional FANG stocks as well as leaders like NVIDIA (NASDAQ: NVDA) and Alibaba Group (NYSE: BABA).

Like WEBS, FNGD is intended for very active, short-term traders and carries a high degree of risk; its leverage resets daily, making it unsuitable as a long-term holding. Its expense ratio of 0.95% is slightly lower than the other leveraged products mentioned here.

Ultra-Targeted Bearish Bets on Single Names

Single-name ETFs have proliferated recently, reflecting investors' desire to make strategic bets for or against specific stocks. These funds amplify exposure to one company at a time, making them the most targeted — and often the riskiest — options on this list due to their leverage.

The Defiance Daily Target 2X Short RGTI ETF (NASDAQ: RGTZ) lets bears take a focused position against the performance of Rigetti Computing, Inc. (NASDAQ: RGTI). Rigetti is one of the leading pure-play quantum firms, but it has struggled recently, losing nearly 40% year-to-date. With slow adoption, a niche customer base, and widespread unprofitability across the sector, further declines are possible.

This targeted exposure comes at a cost: RGTZ carries a 1.29% expense ratio — high but typical for single-stock funds — and it is relatively new, launching in October 2025. With about $32 million in assets, its smaller size could raise liquidity concerns for very active traders.

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