Shares of airlines drew retail attention on Monday after Raymond James announced a series of price target hikes for the sector’s companies.
Airline shares had an upbeat year, with most stocks in the sector beating the benchmark U.S. indices by a wide margin.
While the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite gained over 24% and 31%, respectively, year-to-date, stocks like United Airlines Holdings Inc. (138%), SkyWest Inc. (95%), Alaska Air Group Inc. (69%), and Delta Air Lines Inc. (49%) posted gains that significantly outperformed these benchmark indices.
Other airline stocks, such as American Airlines Group Inc. (30%) and Southwest Airlines Co. (18%), posted reasonable gains during the period.
According to TheFly, Raymond James issued reasonable price target hikes for some of these aviation stocks on Monday. The brokerage indicated that the hikes reflect a modest rise in applied multiples and the shift to a 2025 base period.
1. United Airlines: Raymond James raised its price target on the stock to $120 from $90 while keeping an ‘Outperform’ rating on the shares as part of its fourth-quarter earnings preview for the airlines.
Retail sentiment on Stocktwits flipped into the ‘bullish’ territory from ‘bearish’ a day ago.
UAL’s Sentiment Meter and Message Volume as of 11:41 a.m. ET on Dec. 30, 2024 | Source: Stocktwits
2. Southwest Airlines: The brokerage raised its price target on Southwest to $40 from $36 while keeping an ‘Outperform’ rating on the shares.
LUV’s Sentiment Meter and Message volume as of 11:42 a.m. ET on Dec. 30, 2024 | Source: Stocktwits
Retail investors were equally enthusiastic about Southwest with the sentiment trending in the ‘bullish’ territory.
3. American Airlines: Raymond James upgraded American Airlines to ‘Outperform’ from ‘Market Perform’ with a $24 price target.
The brokerage sees an attractive risk/reward on the shares into Q4 earnings due to its above-consensus forecasts, which reflects an improved revenue outlook following the firm’s early-December update.
4. SkyWest Inc: The brokerage raised its price target to $120 from $114 while keeping an ‘Outperform’ rating on the shares.
SkyWest saw retail sentiment jump into the ‘extremely bullish’ territory (87/100) from ‘neutral’ a day ago. The move was accompanied by ‘extremely high’ retail chatter.
SKYW’s Sentiment Meter and Message volume as of 11:44 a.m. ET on Dec. 30, 2024 | Source: Stocktwits
5. Allegiant Travel Company: Allegiant Travel stock’s price target was raised to $110 from $75 with an ‘Outperform’ rating.
For updates and corrections, email newsroom[at]stocktwits[dot]com.<