Southwest Airlines (LUV) Stock Price, News & Analysis

Company Overview

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. It also provides inflight entertainment and connectivity services on Wi-Fi enabled aircraft; and Rapid Rewards loyalty program that enables program members to earn points for dollars spent on Southwest base fares. In addition, the company offers a suite of digital platforms to support customers' travel needs, including websites and apps; and SWABIZ, an online booking tool. Further, it provides ancillary services, such as Southwest's EarlyBird Check-In, upgraded boarding, and transportation of pets and unaccompanied minors. Southwest Airlines Co. was incorporated in 1967 and is headquartered in Dallas, Texas.

Key Stats

• Today's Range: $29.34 to $30.31
• 50-Day Range: $29.81 to $37.73
• 52-Week Range: $23.58 to $37.96
• Volume: 12.57 million shs
• Average Volume: 13.06 million shs
• Market Capitalization: $15.66 billion
• P/E Ratio: 45.17
• Dividend Yield: 2.42%
• Price Target: $32.75
• Consensus Rating: Reduce

Southwest Airlines Stock Analysis - MarketRank™

Southwest Airlines scored higher than 81% of companies evaluated by MarketBeat, and ranked 43rd out of 120 stocks in the transportation sector. Scores are calculated by averaging available category scores, with extra weight given to analysis and valuation.

Analyst's Opinion

• Score: 1.9 / 5
• Analyst Rating: Reduce

Consensus Rating

Southwest Airlines has received a consensus rating of Reduce. The company's average rating score is 1.89, and is based on 4 buy ratings, 9 hold ratings, and 6 sell ratings.

Amount of Analyst Coverage

Southwest Airlines has been the subject of 7 research reports in the past 90 days, demonstrating strong analyst interest in this stock.

Earnings and Valuation

• Score: 3.1 / 5
• Proj. Earnings Growth: 52.26%

Earnings Growth

Earnings for Southwest Airlines are expected to grow by 52.26% in the coming year, from $1.55 to $2.36 per share.

Price to Earnings Ratio vs. the Market

The P/E ratio of Southwest Airlines is 45.17, which means that it is trading at a more expensive P/E ratio than the market average P/E ratio of about 28.09.

Price to Earnings Ratio vs. Sector

The P/E ratio of Southwest Airlines is 45.17, which means that it is trading at a more expensive P/E ratio than the Transportation sector average P/E ratio of about 12.93.

Price to Earnings Growth Ratio

Southwest Airlines has a PEG Ratio of 0.77. PEG Ratios below 1 indicate that a company could be undervalued.

Price to Book Value per Share Ratio

Southwest Airlines has a P/B Ratio of 1.96. P/B Ratios below 3 indicates that a company is reasonably valued with respect to its assets and liabilities.

Short Interest

• Score: 4.0 / 5
• Short Interest Level: Healthy

Percentage of Shares Shorted

6.29% of the float of Southwest Airlines has been sold short.

Short Interest Ratio / Days to Cover

Southwest Airlines has a short interest ratio ("days to cover") of 2.9, which is generally considered an acceptable ratio of short interest to trading volume.

Change versus previous month

Short interest in Southwest Airlines has recently decreased by 12.75%, indicating that investor sentiment is improving significantly.

Dividend

• Score: 1.7 / 5
• Dividend Strength: Weak

Dividend Yield

Southwest Airlines pays a meaningful dividend of 2.33%, higher than the bottom 25% of all stocks that pay dividends.

Dividend Growth

Southwest Airlines does not have a long track record of dividend growth.

Dividend Coverage

The dividend payout ratio of Southwest Airlines is 109.09%. Payout ratios above 75% are not desirable because they may not be sustainable.

Dividend Sustainability

Based on earnings estimates, Southwest Airlines will have a dividend payout ratio of 30.51% next year. This indicates that Southwest Airlines will be able to sustain or increase its dividend.

Sustainability and ESG

• Score: 0.4 / 5
• Environmental Score: -7.11

Percentage of Shares Shorted

6.29% of the float of Southwest Airlines has been sold short.

Short Interest Ratio / Days to Cover

Southwest Airlines has a short interest ratio ("days to cover") of 2.9, which is generally considered an acceptable ratio of short interest to trading volume.

Change versus previous month

Short interest in Southwest Airlines has recently decreased by 12.75%, indicating that investor sentiment is improving significantly.

News and Social Media

• Score: 2.9 / 5
• News Sentiment: 0.21

News Sentiment

Southwest Airlines has a news sentiment score of 0.21. This score is calculated as an average of sentiment of articles about the company over the last seven days and ranges from 2 (good news) to -2 (bad news). This is a lower news sentiment than the 0.66 average news sentiment score of Transportation companies.

News Coverage This Week

MarketBeat has tracked 47 news articles for Southwest Airlines this week, compared to 28 articles on an average week.

Search Interest

38 people have searched for LUV on MarketBeat in the last 30 days. This is an increase of 171% compared to the previous 30 days.

MarketBeat Follows

5 people have added Southwest Airlines to their MarketBeat watchlist in the last 30 days. This is an increase of 67% compared to the previous 30 days.

Company Ownership

• Score: 1.7 / 5
• Insider Trading: N/A

Insider Buying vs. Insider Selling

In the past three months, Southwest Airlines insiders have not sold or bought any company stock.

Percentage Held by Insiders

Only 0.79% of the stock of Southwest Airlines is held by insiders.

Percentage Held by Institutions

80.82% of the stock of Southwest Airlines is held by institutions. High institutional ownership can be a signal of strong market trust in this company.

LUV Stock Analysis - Frequently Asked Questions

How have LUV shares performed this year?

Southwest Airlines' stock was trading at $33.62 on January 1st, 2025. Since then, LUV shares have decreased by 11.3% and is now trading at $29.81.

How were Southwest Airlines' earnings last quarter?

Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV) released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July, 23rd. The airline reported $0.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.51 by $0.08. The business's revenue for the quarter was down 2.1% on a year-over-year basis.
Read the conference call transcript.

Is Southwest Airlines doing a stock buyback?

Southwest Airlines' board initiated a share repurchase plan on Wednesday, July 23rd 2025, which allows the company to buy back $2,000,000,000 in outstanding shares, according to EventVestor. This means that the company could purchase up to 9.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are typically an indication that the company's board believes its stock is undervalued.

Does Southwest Airlines have any subsidiaries?

The following companies are subsidiaries of Southwest Airlines: AirTran Airways, Morris Air, TranStar Airlines, AirTran Airways 717 Leasing Corporation, AirTran Airways Inc., AirTran Holdings LLC, Southwest Jet Fuel Co., and Triple Crown Assurance Co..

Who are Southwest Airlines' major shareholders?

Southwest Airlines' top institutional shareholders include U S Global Investors Inc. (0.47%), Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH (0.22%), Mizuho Markets Americas LLC (0.14%) and Gradient Investments LLC (0.10%). Insiders that own company stock include Elliott Investment Management, Rakesh Gangwal, Linda B Rutherford, Ryan C Green, David P Hess, John T Montford, C David Cush, Gregg A Saretsky and Sarah Feinberg.
View institutional ownership trends.

How do I buy shares of Southwest Airlines?

Shares of LUV stock can be purchased through any online brokerage account. Popular online brokerages with access to the U.S. stock market include Charles Schwab, E*TRADE, Fidelity, and Vanguard Brokerage Services.

What other stocks do shareholders of Southwest Airlines own?

Based on aggregate information from My MarketBeat watchlists, some other companies that Southwest Airlines investors own include Meta Platforms (META), NVIDIA (NVDA), SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (SPY), Tesla (TSLA), Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), Walmart (WMT) and Walt Disney (DIS).

Company Calendar

• Record date for 7/9 Dividend: 6/18/2025
• Ex-Dividend for 7/9 Dividend: 6/18/2025
• Dividend Payable: 7/09/2025
• Last Earnings: 7/23/2025
• Today: 8/01/2025
• Record date for 9/24 Dividend: 9/03/2025
• Ex-Dividend for 9/24 Dividend: 9/03/2025
• Dividend Payable: 9/24/2025
• Fiscal Year End: 12/31/2025

Industry, Sector and Symbol

• Stock Exchange: NYSE
• Sector: Transportation
• Industry: TRANS - AIRLINE
• Sub-Industry: Airlines
• Current Symbol: NYSE:LUV
• CIK: 92380
• Web: www.southwest.com
• Phone: (214) 792-4000
• Fax: 214-792-5015
• Employees: 72,450
• Year Founded: 1967

Price Target and Rating

• Average Price Target for Southwest Airlines: $32.75
• High Price Target: $42.00
• Low Price Target: $23.00
• Potential Upside/Downside: +9.9%
• Consensus Rating: Reduce
• Rating Score (0-4): 1.89
• Research Coverage: 19 Analysts

Profitability

• EPS (Trailing Twelve Months): $0.66
• Trailing P/E Ratio: 45.17
• Forward P/E Ratio: 19.23
• P/E Growth: 0.77
• Net Income: $465 million
• Net Margins: 1.43%
• Pretax Margin: 1.84%
• Return on Equity: 6.27%
• Return on Assets: 1.83%

Debt

• Debt-to-Equity Ratio: 0.51
• Current Ratio: 0.56
• Quick Ratio: 0.49

Sales & Book Value

• Annual Sales: $27.47 billion
• Price / Sales: 0.57
• Cash Flow: $3.65 per share
• Price / Cash Flow: 8.17
• Book Value: $15.23 per share
• Price / Book: 1.96

Miscellaneous

• Outstanding Shares: 525,188,000
• Free Float: 521,039,000
• Market Cap: $15.66 billion
• Optionable: Optionable
• Beta: 1.21