UPDATE: Sterne Agee Initiates Delta Air Lines at Buy

Sterne Agee is out with its report today on Delta Air Lines

, initiating DAL at Buy. In its report, Sterne Agee writes, "We are initiating research coverage of Delta Air Line with a BUY rating and an $18 price objective. Post its integration with Northwest, Delta is one of the largest, financially sound major airlines in the US airline industry. Furthermore, we believe DAL is in an attractive position to reduce capacity and improve cost structure and asset utilization at the same time." At the time of posting, shares of DAL were trading at $7.96, up 2.31% from Thursday's close.