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• Time to fly with the airlines?

  Posted Aug 14 2008, 01:39 PM by Matt Koppenheffer
  Filed under: CAPS, airlines, Southwest
  Money Blog: Top Stocks Blog - MSN Money

  Airline stocks have been the place to be lately. Continental has more than doubled since bottoming out in July, Delta is also up 100% from its lows, and UAL... well, after touching below $3 per share it's blasted off to over $12. The reason for all this renewed optimism? Let's all say it together: falling oil prices.
  
  On The Motley Fool's CAPS service, CAPS member MENGIV blogged about the run in airline stocks and the fact that analysts are starting to upgrade the beleaguered group. In fact, he noted that JPMorgan expects as much as $13 billion in cost savings industry-wide due to falling fuel prices.   Read More...

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• Shame on American Airlines

  Posted Apr 10 2008, 01:10 PM by Robert Walberg
  Rating:
  Filed under: airlines, Southwest, AMR
  Money Blog: Top Stocks Blog - MSN Money

  In the words of Ricky Ricardo, the CEO of AMR Corp. has "some 'splainin' to do."  Whether you believe the parent of American Airlines is merely the victim of a reactionary FAA or not, the fact of the matter is that management had 18 months to comply with the FAA's request regarding the wiring on the MD-80s and failed to act.

  Yes, the planes have been flying safely for years, and yes, the FAA is likely overreacting to criticism from Congress after it was made to look inept in the Southwest Airlines debacle a few weeks back. Nevertheless, the single most important task of any airline CEO is public safety. Failing to address a potential safety risk merely because you didn't think you would get caught is a miserable excuse.

  Maybe AMR's management simply thought the cost of fixing the problem would be too high -- especially since the FAA really hadn't checked that carefully in the past.  With jet fuel costs skyrocketing and the economy slumping, spending more money on maintenance that didn't seem necessary had to be a tough pill to swallow. So AMR chose not to take its medicine in small manageable doses over the past 18 months in hopes that the problem would just go unnoticed.   Read More...

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• Who luvs Southwest?

  Posted Nov 02 2007, 02:11 PM by Matt Koppenheffer
  Rating:
  Filed under: CAPS, airlines, Southwest
  Money Blog: Top Stocks Blog - MSN Money

  It's been a challenging decade for the airlines. The 2001 terrorist attacks body slammed the industry, employee relations have been less than stellar as they try to cut costs, and the seemingly unstoppable price of oil continues to crimp business. American Airlines and Delta just pushed through some price hikes aimed at offsetting the rocketing price of jet fuel, and United and Southwest did some of the same last month.
  
  For investors, the question is whether there is opportunity to be found in the face of these headwinds. On The Motley Fool's CAPS service, players are split on the prospects for Southwest, a long-time favorite among investors. Though there are fair number of Southwest bulls, the stock has just a two star rating -- suggesting that it's not among the best investment opportunities in the 5,000-stock CAPS universe.   Read More...

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