#1 - Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV)
The first stock on our list of travel stocks to buy now is Southwest Airlines (NYSE: LUV). When the pandemic was first shutting down travel throughout the world, I forecast that Southwest would be one of the stronger airline stocks coming out of the pandemic.
Southwest’s strong balance sheet (the company has approximately $15 billion in liquidity) has allowed it to add routes – it has 18 new routes since prior to the pandemic. And that leads to another reason why I like LUV stock. To take a slogan from real estate, it’s about location, location, location. With small exclusions, the airline flies exclusively in the United States. This is critical because it appears that international travel is likely to remain suppressed.
And the airline has always been known as a budget-friendly airline which will still be important even as consumers are flush with stimulus cash.
LUV stock has experienced a sharp sell-off in June, but that should just make it an even more attractive buy for investors who are looking to find value and growth in the travel sector.
About Southwest Airlines
Southwest Airlines Co operates as a passenger airline company that provides scheduled air transportation services in the United States and near-international markets. As of December 31, 2023, the company operated a total fleet of 817 Boeing 737 aircraft; and served 121 destinations in 42 states, the District of Columbia, and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, as well as ten near-international countries, including Mexico, Jamaica, the Bahamas, Aruba, the Dominican Republic, Costa Rica, Belize, Cuba, the Cayman Islands, and Turks and Caicos.
Read More - Current Price
- $32.15
- Consensus Rating
- Hold
- Ratings Breakdown
- 4 Buy Ratings, 11 Hold Ratings, 3 Sell Ratings.
- Consensus Price Target
- $30.78 (4.3% Downside)
