UPDATE: Imperial Capital Reiterates Outperform Rating, Raises PT on Alaska Air Group Following Record 4Q and 2014 Results

In a report published Friday, Imperial Capital analyst Bob McAdoo reiterated an Outperform rating on Alaska Air Group (NYSE: ALK), and raised the price target from $69.00 to $86.00.In the report, Imperial Capital noted, “We are maintaining our Outperform rating and increasing our one-year price target on ALK shares to $86 from $69. In our view, the record full year operating results that ALK released on 1/22/15 demonstrate this management team's ability to minimize the competitive impact of Delta's increased presence in Seattle. Increases in competitive capacity in ALK's home market have been a sticking point for many airline investors since spring 2014. Despite the added competition, Alaska generated full year pre-tax margins of 17.2%, up from 12.4% in 2013. Further benefitting the company has been the significant decline in jet fuel prices and an effective hedging strategy. Given the strength of ALK's balance sheet, we expect the company to pass along a meaningful portion of fuel driven cash savings to ALK investors through additional share repurchases. Our price target represents approximately 27% of potential upside from recent trading levels.”Alaska Air Group closed on Thursday at $67.94.