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Southwest Airlines (LUV) Stock Dips While Market Gains: Key Facts

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Southwest Airlines (LUV - Free Report) closed the latest trading day at $27.08, indicating a -0.88% change from the previous session's end. This change lagged the S&P 500's 1.18% gain on the day. Elsewhere, the Dow saw an upswing of 0.87%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq appreciated by 1.6%.

Shares of the airline have depreciated by 7.17% over the course of the past month, underperforming the Transportation sector's loss of 5.84% and the S&P 500's loss of 5.17%.

The upcoming earnings release of Southwest Airlines will be of great interest to investors. The company's earnings report is expected on October 26, 2023. The company is forecasted to report an EPS of $0.44, showcasing a 12% downward movement from the corresponding quarter of the prior year. Alongside, our most recent consensus estimate is anticipating revenue of $6.58 billion, indicating a 5.73% upward movement from the same quarter last year.

LUV's full-year Zacks Consensus Estimates are calling for earnings of $1.82 per share and revenue of $26.17 billion. These results would represent year-over-year changes of +56.9% and +9.91%, respectively.

It is also important to note the recent changes to analyst estimates for Southwest Airlines. Recent revisions tend to reflect the latest near-term business trends. As such, positive estimate revisions reflect analyst optimism about the company's business and profitability.

Our research suggests that these changes in estimates have a direct relationship with upcoming stock price performance. 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.

The Zacks Rank system ranges from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell). It has a remarkable, outside-audited track record of success, with #1 stocks delivering an average annual return of +25% since 1988. Over the last 30 days, the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has witnessed a 12.02% decrease. Southwest Airlines presently features a Zacks Rank of #5 (Strong Sell).

In the context of valuation, Southwest Airlines is at present trading with a Forward P/E ratio of 15.01. For comparison, its industry has an average Forward P/E of 7.39, which means Southwest Airlines is trading at a premium to the group.

Also, we should mention that LUV has a PEG ratio of 0.76. Comparable to the widely accepted P/E ratio, the PEG ratio also accounts for the company's projected earnings growth. Transportation - Airline stocks are, on average, holding a PEG ratio of 0.3 based on yesterday's closing prices.

The Transportation - Airline industry is part of the Transportation sector. Currently, this industry holds a Zacks Industry Rank of 222, positioning it in the bottom 12% of all 250+ industries.

The Zacks Industry Rank assesses the strength of our separate industry groups by calculating the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks contained within the groups. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.

Make sure to utilize Zacks.com to follow all of these stock-moving metrics, and more, in the coming trading sessions.


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