ATLANTA (AP) -- Shares of Delta Air Lines Inc.'s new stock began trading publicly Thursday on the New York Stock Exchange for the first time, opening short of the company's initial projection.
Shares of the Atlanta-based company opened at $21.75, which pegged Delta's initial market value at $8.7 billion based on the 400 million shares Delta planned to issue. In midmorning trading, Delta shares fell to $20.66, dropping Delta's market value to $8.3 billion.
The company's shares are being traded under its familiar DAL ticker symbol.
The initial market value is short of the $9.4 billion to $12 billion that Delta had projected in its reorganization plan that it would be worth when it emerged from bankruptcy.
The opening stock price was also short of the $9.8 billion that Tempe, Ariz.-based US Airways Group Inc. had offered to buy Delta for before the hostile takeover bid was defeated in January.
But Delta Chief Financial Officer Ed Bastian said he was excited about Delta's prospects, especially considering that its market value is second-highest in the airline industry. Dallas-based Southwest Airlines Co. has a market value of $11.4 billion.
"That's an affirmation of the job we've done," Bastian said.
He also said that Delta's projected value in its reorganization plan was based on factors last fall. Bastian said things have changed in the airline sector since then.
Even so, one analyst at Prudential Equity Group said in a research note Thursday that Delta's stock is overvalued and trading at levels, in comparison to its peers, that are unsustainable.
Thursday was the first public trading day for Delta's new stock, but some creditors and others have been buying and selling shares in recent days on a when-issued basis, driving down the opening value. Bastian said stock price comparisons won't be meaningful until the close of trading Thursday.
Delta exited bankruptcy on Monday after a 19 1/2-month reorganization that saw it shed billions in costs. Its previous shares were canceled when it left bankruptcy.
Delta entered Chapter 11 on Sept. 14, 2005, amid high fuel prices and the burdens of high labor and pension expenses. Delta significantly reduced its labor and pension costs while under court protection.
Delta executives planned to ring the closing bell Thursday afternoon from the floor of the NYSE.
Chief Executive Gerald Grinstein bought 1,000 shares of new Delta stock, the company said in a statement.
The company is making the initial distribution of its new common stock to unsecured creditors with allowed claims. As part of its previously announced comprehensive compensation program, Delta made its distribution of new common stock to approximately 39,000 noncontract employees.
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