Airline Stock Roundup: JetBlue, Southwest and GOL in Focus - Analyst Blog - Alaska Air Gr (NYSE:ALK), American Airlines Gr (NASDAQ:AAL)

While no major changes in the stock price performance were registered in the past one week, trends mostly remained bearish for Airline stocks.

Among the major events that vied for attention, Delta Airlines Inc. DAL and Southwest Airlines Co. LUV reported hikes in investor returns while GOL Linhas Aereas Inteligentes S.A. GOL posted wider-than-estimated loss.
Recap of the Past One Week's Most Important Stories

1. JetBlue Airways Corporation JBLU registered strong traffic growth in April, up 6.1% year over year, representing the third consecutive month of high traffic. Consolidated capacity was also up 5.9% year over year and load factor grew 20 basis points. (Read More: April Traffic Flies High at JetBlue)

2. Within a year of enhancing its shareholders' return, Delta Airlines again hiked its dividend and authorised a new share repurchase program to gain investors' confidence. The company's board of directors approved a $2 billion share buyback program through 2016 and raised quarterly dividend by 50%. (Read More: Delta to Boost Shareholders Wealth)

3. Southwest Airlines enhanced its shareholders' wealth, just days after rival Delta Airlines increased its own, by approving a $1 billion share buyback program and a 50% hike in its quarterly dividend. This marks the company's 151st consecutive dividend pay-out. The new amount represents an annualized dividend of 24 cents and a yield of around 1%. (Read More: Southwest Airlines to Boost Shareholder Wealth)

4. GOL Linhas reported its first quarter financial results that were hurt considerably due to a decline in domestic supply, record high jet fuel prices and depreciation of the Brazilian real against the dollar.

The company posted loss that was wider than the year-ago quarter number as well as the Zacks Consensus Estimate. (Read More: GOL Q1 Loss Wider than Expected). The company also reported its traffic results in which it recorded a rise in load factor to 76.8%.

5. In line with airline customer satisfaction scaling new heights in North America, Alaska Airlines Group Inc. ALK topped the 2014 survey conducted by J.D. Power for the seventh consecutive year. The carrier also earned the leading position in terms of quality and usability of its frequent flier program. (Read More: Alaska Airlines Tops Satisfaction Survey)

Performance

The following table shows the price movement of the major Airline players over the past 5 trading sessions and during the last 6 months:

Company	Last 5 Days performance	Last 6 months performance
DAL	-1.59%	37.02%
UAL	-3.60%	8.34%
AAL	-1.54%	58.94%
JBLU	0.91%	0.91%
LUV	0.16%	39.07%
SAVE	-0.38%	28.13%
CPA	-0.86%	-6.43%
ALK	-1.25%	27.17%
HA	0.21%	77.45%
GOL	-6.90%	47.34%

Over the trailing 5 days, most of the airline stocks witnessed a plunge except for JetBlue Airways, Southwest Airlines and Hawaiian Holdings Inc. HA.

Of these positively performing stocks, JetBlue Airways ranked highest with almost 1% gain in stock prices over the trailing 5 days. However, Hawaiian Holdings and Southwest Airlines gained marginally.

On the other hand, the biggest losers include GOL Linhas, United Continental Holdings, Inc. UAL, Delta Air Lines and American Airlines Group Inc. AAL, stocks of which dropped 6.9%, 3.6%, 1.59% and 1.5%, respectively, over the last 5 trading sessions.

On the other hand, in terms of performance over the past 6 months, most of the stocks have fared reasonably well with the exception of Copa Holdings SA CPA, which dropped 6.43% over the period. The biggest gainer in the 6-month span was Hawaiian Holdings sporting substantial growth of 77.5%.

What's Cooking in the Airline Biz?

The beginning to the current week witnessed some key events in the industry. While Southwest Airlines announced its plans to extend its international destinations apart from adding new non-stop flights from Dallas Love Field, Alaska Airlines is now looking for regulatory approvals to kick start two new non-stop flights from Portland, OR, to Los Cabos and to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico.

Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report >>

Market News and Data brought to you by Benzinga APIs

Get Our Top Trade Ideas Delivered Daily - 65% Off Now

Get Our Top Trade Ideas Delivered Daily - 65% Off Now

Airline Stock Roundup: JetBlue, Southwest and GOL in Focus - Analyst Blog

Comments