Airline stocks like Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV), Delta Airlines (NYSE:DAL), and United Airlines (NYSE:UAL) were among those trending, showing resilience and gaining momentum despite a nationwide outage on January 11.
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Winter hasn’t been kind to the American airlines industry this season. After suffering massive chaos and cancellations in December due to winter storms, airline stocks were in the spotlight once again on January 11. This time, a widespread outage in the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) grounded all domestic flights. The FAA’s Notice to Air Missions system failed, grounding flights across the nation for about 4.5 hours.
However, airline stocks proved to have toughened after last year’s challenges, picking up momentum right after the flights resumed. So much so, that the S&P Supercomposite Airlines Industry Index was up as much as 1% by the end of the same day, led by United Airlines, Allegiant Travel Company (NASDAQ:ALGT), JetBlue (NASDAQ:JBLU), and Delta Airlines.
Here’s how some of the U.S. airline stocks have been faring:
Southwest
Shares of Southwest gained 0.65% since the January 11 incident. Moreover, after December’s snafu, the stock has shown strength since the beginning of the year, gaining about 15% so far in 2023. However, the stock is still lagging behind its peers.
Is LUV Stock a Buy, According to Analysts?
LUV stock has a Moderate Buy consensus rating on Wall Street based on seven Buys and four Holds. The average price target of $44.45 indicates 20.23% upside potential in the next 12 months.
Delta Airlines
After trading lower on the day of the outage, DAL stock ended in the green. Since the outage, the stock has remained relatively flat. Nonetheless, the incident hasn’t fazed the stock, and so far this year, shares have gained almost 17% after a dismal December performance.
Is Delta a Buy or Sell?
Bulls are running for Delta on Wall Street. The stock has a Strong Buy consensus rating, based on 10 Buys and one Hold. The average price target of $50.82 also indicates a 33.28% upside potential.
United Airlines
United Airlines investors seem so enthused by the recovery in travel demand, that last week’s outage was pushed to obscurity. The stock rose 8% since the incident. Also, since the beginning of the year, the stock has risen a remarkable 39%.
Is United Airlines a Good Stock to Buy?
The stock has a Moderate Buy consensus rating based on seven Buys, two Holds, and one Sell. The average UAL stock price target of $56.20 implies a 9.1% upside potential.
