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Southwest Airlines (LUV) Stock Moves -0.91%: What You Should Know

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Southwest Airlines (LUV - Free Report) closed at $32.78 in the latest trading session, marking a -0.91% move from the prior day. This move was narrower than the S&P 500's daily loss of 1.45%. Elsewhere, the Dow lost 1.07%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq lost 3.06%.

Coming into today, shares of the airline had lost 5.08% in the past month. In that same time, the Transportation sector lost 1.92%, while the S&P 500 lost 3.83%.

Southwest Airlines will be looking to display strength as it nears its next earnings release. The company is expected to report EPS of -$0.15, up 53.13% from the prior-year quarter. Our most recent consensus estimate is calling for quarterly revenue of $5.76 billion, up 22.61% from the year-ago period.

LUV's full-year Zacks Consensus Estimates are calling for earnings of $2.71 per share and revenue of $27.17 billion. These results would represent year-over-year changes of +133.62% and +14.1%, respectively.

Any recent changes to analyst estimates for Southwest Airlines should also be noted by investors. Recent revisions tend to reflect the latest near-term business trends. As a result, we can interpret positive estimate revisions as a good sign for the company's business outlook.

Our research shows that these estimate changes are directly correlated with near-term stock prices. To benefit from this, we have developed the Zacks Rank, a proprietary model which takes these estimate changes into account and provides an actionable rating system.

Ranging from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), the Zacks Rank system has a proven, outside-audited track record of outperformance, with #1 stocks returning an average of +25% annually since 1988. The Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has moved 1.96% lower within the past month. Southwest Airlines is holding a Zacks Rank of #5 (Strong Sell) right now.

Valuation is also important, so investors should note that Southwest Airlines has a Forward P/E ratio of 12.2 right now. For comparison, its industry has an average Forward P/E of 12.72, which means Southwest Airlines is trading at a discount to the group.

Meanwhile, LUV's PEG ratio is currently 0.46. This popular metric is similar to the widely-known P/E ratio, with the difference being that the PEG ratio also takes into account the company's expected earnings growth rate. LUV's industry had an average PEG ratio of 0.46 as of yesterday's close.

The Transportation - Airline industry is part of the Transportation sector. This industry currently has a Zacks Industry Rank of 36, which puts it in the top 15% of all 250+ industries.

The Zacks Industry Rank includes is listed in order from best to worst in terms of the average Zacks Rank of the individual companies within each of these sectors. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.

Be sure to follow all of these stock-moving metrics, and many more, on Zacks.com.


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