If You Invested $1,000 In American Airlines Stock One Year Ago, Here's How Much You'd Have Now

Investors who have owned stocks in the past year have generally experienced some big gains. In fact, the SPDR S&P 500 SPY total return over the past 12 months is 53.3%. But there is no question some big-name stocks performed better than others along the way.

American’s Big Run: One company that has been a decent investment in the past year has been airline giant American Airlines Group Inc AAL.

American and other travel stocks experienced a near worst-case scenario when the COVID-19 breakout occurred in early 2020. Travel demand fell to nearly 0% during the worst of the pandemic. However, optimism about the ongoing vaccine rollout has investors feeling bullish on the potential for a surge in summer travel in 2021 due to pent-up demand.

In fact, just this week American said it intends to restore most of its grounded fleet to active status heading into the summer travel season. American said its recent net bookings rate is now back up to 90% of where it was in 2019 prior to the pandemic.

In 2019, American generated $3.79 in EPS on $45.76 billion in revenue. In 2020, those numbers plummeted to an $18.36 EPS loss on just $17.33 billion in revenue. American’s long-term debt also ballooned from $20.8 billion in 2019 to $29.3 billion in 2020.

At the beginning of 2020, American shares were trading at around $30. By the beginning of March, the stock had dropped to around $19 after news of the virus spreading in China prompted concerns about a U.S. pandemic. On March 27, airlines received $25 billion in federal bailouts. On April 3, American shares dropped below $10. The stock ultimately bottomed at $8.25 on May 14.

Airlines got another $15 billion in government bailouts in December. By that time, vaccine optimism had boosted American’s share price back up to above $15.

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American In 2021, Beyond: In mid-March 2021, American shares hit a new post-crisis high of $26.09 before pulling back to $23.67. Incredibly, the battered Airline’s shares are now trading back above where they were at the beginning of March 2020.

American Airlines investors who bought one year ago and held on have generated a nice return on their investment. In fact, $1,000 in American stock bought on March 31, 2020, would be worth about $1,969 today.

Looking ahead, analysts are expecting American's stock to lose altitude again in the next 12 months. The average price target among the 16 analysts covering the stock is $15.50, suggesting 34.6% downside from current levels.