UAL Stock In Focus: Retail Bullish Ahead Of Earnings, Asks CEO Scott Kirby To 'Donate All His Wealth' After Inheritance Tax Comment

United Airlines heads into quarterly earnings as rising fuel costs, Starlink upgrades and criticism of CEO Scott Kirby’s tax views draw attention.

• United Airlines is expected to report Q3 earnings of $2.59 per share on $17.89 billion in revenue. 
• UBS cut United’s price target to $139, citing fuel costs and economic uncertainty.
• United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby backed a national wealth tax and inheritance taxes of up to 100%. 

United Airlines Holdings (UAL) stock is drawing attention ahead of its fiscal third-quarter (Q3) 2026 earnings report on Tuesday, as retail traders remain optimistic about the air carrier’s tech upgrades while CEO Scott Kirby faces criticism for supporting inheritance taxes of nearly 100%. 

United Airlines stock ended Monday’s trading session 0.5% lower. The stock has declined over the past three weeks. 

Fuel Costs And Economic Uncertainty Cloud UAL’s Outlook 

United Airlines is approaching its Q3 earnings at a crossroads between premium product differentiation and macroeconomic margin compression. According to Fiscal.ai, Wall Street expects earnings of $2.59 per share on revenue of $17.89 billion. 

UBS analyst Atul Maheswari lowered his price target for UAL to $139 from $146 last week but kept a ‘Buy’ rating, citing economic uncertainty and rising fuel costs that could limit near-term gains. 

Earlier this month, Delta Air Lines (DAL) said its Q3 adjusted fuel costs jumped 62% to $4.14 billion, prompting a cut in its 2026 adjusted earnings outlook to $5.10 - $5.60 per share from its earlier estimate of $6.50 - $7.50.

United Expands Starlink Wi-Fi Across Its Fleet 

United's operational narrative stays positive, anchored by aggressive customer experience upgrades—chief among them its fleet-wide Starlink Wi-Fi rollout. United confirmed last week that SpaceX's high-speed satellite Wi-Fi service is now active on nearly half of its daily departures. United Airlines has installed Starlink on more than 635 of its 1,579 mainline and regional aircraft. The airline is equipping around 20 aircraft each week and expects to finish installations by the end of 2027. 

The airline launched a digital tracker tool (StarlinkTracker.United.com) allowing passengers to check real-time satellite connectivity on flights within three days of departure.

On Monday, United also expanded meal preorders to flights over 900 miles, adding about 420 eligible daily flights and giving up to 65,000 more passengers access to the service each day. 

United CEO Kirby Backs Steep Inheritance Taxes To Tackle Inequality 

Retail traders also took note of CEO Scott Kirby's comments on wealth redistribution. In a New York Times interview, Kirby tackled rising economic disparity head-on: "Wealth inequality has become a danger to our society, and we need to address that. We should have a national wealth tax — it won’t work by state because people will just move. And I think we should have inheritance taxes that get close to 100 percent at some level. I would pay them."

Investors slammed the executive for advocating punitive taxation while running a major public enterprise.

What UAL Retail Traders Are Saying 

On Stocktwits, retail sentiment around the stock remained ‘bullish’. The stock saw an 850% jump in message volume over the past week, with watchers up 0.1%. 

A user said, “What an absolute disgrace of a CEO. Wants a 100% inheritance tax , LOL. Give away your wealth if you want; others will decide what to do with THEIRS. Mind YOUR business.”

Another user said, “He thinks it's okay to jack up prices pay himself tens of millions then complain about inequality? There is nothing stopping him from donating all his wealth to the federal government today!!!”

UAL stock has declined 14% year-to-date. 

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