11 Big Companies Explain How They Got Slammed By The Shutdown

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Southwest airlines airplane luggage bags

Southwest

Standard and Poor's said the government shutdown and fight over the debt ceiling cost the economy $24 billion.

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That wasn't just from zookeepers at the National Zoo getting laid off.

Nor was it from delays to just government contractors.

With the help of SeekingAlpha's library of earnings call transcripts, we found 11 companies with very little direct government-related business who said the shutdown has impacted their.

Southwest Airlines

"Thus far, in October, we were impacted by the government shutdown. We're currently estimating about a $20 million impact from a reduction in government-related travel, and our best guess at this point is that October [Passenger Revenue per Available Seat Mile] will be up about 1 percentage point."

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US Airways

"the shutdown affected both business and leisure demand, though the effects were most pronounced for business demand. For the last week of September and the first 2 weeks of October, close-in bookings were down by 12% and total bookings were down 8%."

DeVry

"One of the factors impacting demand in DeVry University as well as higher education across the U.S. continues to be prospective students' lack of confidence in the job market and hesitancy to make the commitment to go to college. The recent government shutdown didn't help. We saw a downturn in Internet searches across education and in our own inquiries within days of the shutdown announcement, many students worried that federal aid might be stopped and indicated they were going to wait until the uncertainty clear up.

"And put yourself in the shoes of a single mother who is thinking about enrolling in college or a government worker on a furlough or a military student. With the shutdown, you worried that federal aid might not be there. And this becomes one more reason to potentially put off the decision to go to college."

O'Reilly Automotive

"...our DIY business definitely slowed down towards the end of the quarter more -- pretty dramatically. ... this whole government shutdown and the bickering that's been going on in Washington, was going on, I think has informed, as most people are these days, because of the news agencies and smartphones and all that kind of stuff.

"I think it creates uncertainty, especially when people are living paycheck to paycheck and we're talking about defaulting on our sovereign debt and all the things that are discussed on TV and news agencies. So a lot of people don't really understand. They just think it's bad and can't be good for them."

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Autonation

"...there's no question that the government shutdown had a disruptive impact on sales. Business was very strong from all this going through Labor Day. And once the prospect of a government shutdown became more certain, it definitely was disruptive to sales. I would -- if I were to describe it, I would say, sequentially, it was about a 10% impact, and year-over-year you are then running flat rather than having increases. That phenomenon continued into October."

Pebblebrook Hotel Trust

"Doubletree Bethesda continued cutbacks in government travel and the government shutdown which affected bookings in September, negatively impacted margins 18 basis points."

ACCO Brands (Office Supplies)

"At the end of Q3, when the likelihood of government shutdown and debt ceiling crisis became more evident, we saw a market slowdown in sales and replenishment. That continued through the first 3 weeks of October. As a result of our performance, we will accelerate reducing our structural cost in the U.S. to ensure a competitive product offering at the right price point and strong profitability for the business."

PulteGroup (Home Builders)

"The D.C. area was also likely impacted by the uncertainties leading into the government shutdown."

Ethan Allen Interiors

"...our September results were also impacted by this shutdown issues in Washington. It carried through the first two weeks in October and now we see people coming back but people are still somewhat cautious however, as our business is not something that you know, that is not high upper end restaurants where if you don't eat you don't come back. In our case people do come back."

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Taubman (Mall Developer)

"Sales performance tapered up towards the end of the quarter. The political standoff and government shutdown was likely a factor as many have suggested..."

Garmin

"The Aviation market remains challenging, and this has been further intensified by shutdown-related furloughs at the FAA causing short-term delays in certifications, field approvals and shipments. While this may create headwinds in the fourth quarter, we continue to believe in our long-term growth story in this segment.

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"...any kind of field approval that was occurring with the installation of avionics, aircraft registrations, certifications, all those things are basically shut down for the period that the government was in the shutdown mode. So we saw that as a blip, and the industry is quite sensitive. So we don't know, as we roll into Q4, what the impact of ongoing budget talks will be as we move towards the end of the year. So we're maintaining kind of a conservative outlook there."