8 Airlines Stocks 1 Wall Street Guru Is Watching

In a report published Tuesday, Wolfe Research analyst Hunter Keay discussed the relationship between annual stock performance and annual margin performance of airline companies. The analyst commented that the annual EBIT margin change is a "great indicator of stock performance." In the report, Wolfe Research noted, "In each of the past 16 quarters, the stocks of the top four EBIT margin performers on a y/y basis outperformed the stocks of the bottom four margin performers by 15pp, on average, during the quarter." Keay cited

,

,

and

as the top y/y margin performers in 4Q14. These stocks rose 52% on an average. The bottom performers in the same quarter were

,

,

and

, the stocks of which rose only 18% on average, the analyst pointed out. "…in each of the past 16 quarters 70% of the stocks that were in the top four quarterly y/y margin change outperformed the group average, while 66% of the stocks that were in the bottom four quarterly y/y margin change underperformed the group average during the quarter," Keay commented. "What does this mean for 1Q and 2Q15? Based on our estimates we expect the top four margin performers in 1Q15 will be ALGT, JBLU, UAL, and LUV, and we expect the bottom four margin performers will be CPA, DAL, WJA, and ALK," the analyst added. Wolfe Research maintained an Outperform rating on Alaska Air Group, Allegiant Travel Company, American Airlines Group, Southwest Airlines, Spirit Airlines, Inc.

and United Continental Holdings, Inc.

, while maintaining a Peer Perform rating on Copa Holdings, Delta Air Lines, Inc.

, Hawaiian Holdings, JetBlue Airways, Virgin America Inc.

and Westjet Airline.