One company"™s numbers will soar above all its peers. That company is Southwest Airlines (LUV). It"™s the one airline stock to buy now.
Southwest transports over 115 million customers annually to over 100 locations in the U.S., Central America and the Caribbean. The company is based in Dallas and has 55,000 employees.
On October 11, Southwest announced its intention to begin service to Hawaii in 2018. In other recent news, Southwest launched service utilizing the Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircraft in October"”the first among its airline peers to do so.
The company will report third-quarter results on the morning of October 26. Wall Street consensus estimates point to third-quarter earnings per share (EPS) of $0.87, with a range of $0.81 to $1.00.
The company saw four consecutive years of aggressive earnings growth grind to a halt in 2016, when non-GAAP earnings per share (EPS) rose just 6.5%. Current-year numbers are lackluster, with 2017 EPS expected to fall 3.5%…
