This past weekend, I took a trip with my two boys down to Orlando to visit downtown Disney, Universal Studios, Gator World as well as Lego-land. It was our yearly vacation and my oldest son has been asking about Disney for some time now.
He is 6 years old, my youngest is 2 and I figured that it would be a good time for them to see Disney and the rest of the sights.
We flew out of Richmond, Virginia Wednesday morning and didn’t get back until yesterday afternoon. We ended up seeing all the sites, all the tourist traps and took all of those pictures that you cringe about – yup I was that very tourist that I have made fun of time and time again.
However, being in those shoes, I enjoyed every moment of it. It was for my kids, not me.
Flying down there this time, I ended up taking an airline that I have never taken before, Southwest Airlines (LUV)…
I didn’t know how it was going to be considering there are no assigned seats and being there with my two kids, I figured it would be a nightmare and somehow we’d get split up.
However, that was not the case. It seems that Southwest has some pity on families with small children and they let you board before a majority of the people get on. Also, my youngest has a severe peanut allergy and they were very accommodating with that.
Overall, the flight was great. We left Richmond and it was 92 degrees and we got to Florida where it was 82 degrees. Go figure.
One thing that I did notice about Southwest is the fact that both of my flights were completely jammed packed with absolutely no room for stand by whatsoever. Also, while I was in the airport, I kept hearing the same thing come across the loudspeaker, “This flight is booked so please keep in mind that space will be limited for carry-on items.”
That’s all well and good, not good if you are the passenger that has multiple carry-on items and have to string them out in rows 6 & 7.
When I got home, I thought about it. I thought about what I witnessed on that airline and how they were so incredibly booked. Seeing this, I had to do some research…
I wanted to see what kind of airline Southwest was according to the stock market.
I figured, with customers like this essentially beating down the door to get a seat, the stock should be a very good buy.
With this information I witnessed, I suspected that Southwest would have a very strong price and a very northward trending chart.
This morning, when I did my research, I put the stock symbol into Yahoo Finance and it is exactly what I anticipated.
LUV is trading around $26 and if you do a year to date chart review, it is nearly straight up. Southwest has obviously been regarded as a top airline according to Wall Street and I believe that with its business model, you can’t lose with this one.
It is for that reason, that I’m recommending Southwest (LUV). I see it sitting at $26 and believe that it can only get higher from here.
If you look back over a year’s time, the stock has climbed through the teens and shows no signs of slipping.
I believe that we will see Southwest Airlines cruise into the $30’s and probably into the $40’s by next year.
It is a very healthy stock with a positive $1.40 earnings per share, something you don’t see much with airlines and if you do, it’s much less than that.
Good luck with the position if you decide to get in. I believe you’re going to LUV Southwest Airlines and its long-term prospects.