Alaska Air Group (ALK) Exceeds Market Returns: Some Facts to Consider

Alaska Air Group (ALK) closed the most recent trading day at $38.44, moving +1.16% from the previous trading session. The stock exceeded the S&P 500, which registered a gain of 1.01% for the day. Elsewhere, the Dow saw an upswing of 0.83%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq appreciated by 1.22%.

The airline's stock has dropped by 31.25% in the past month, falling short of the Transportation sector's loss of 9.61% and the S&P 500's loss of 2.86%.

Investors will be eagerly watching for the performance of Alaska Air Group in its upcoming earnings disclosure. The company is expected to report EPS of -$0.84, down 9.09% from the prior-year quarter. Alongside, our most recent consensus estimate is anticipating revenue of $3.3 billion, indicating a 5.23% upward movement from the same quarter last year.

For the full year, the Zacks Consensus Estimates are projecting earnings of $5.11 per share and revenue of $15.42 billion, which would represent changes of +109.43% and +8.32%, respectively, from the prior year.

Additionally, investors should keep an eye on any recent revisions to analyst forecasts for Alaska Air Group. Such recent modifications usually signify the changing landscape of near-term business trends. Consequently, upward revisions in estimates express analysts' positivity towards the business operations and its ability to generate profits.

Our research demonstrates that these adjustments in estimates directly associate with imminent stock price performance. We developed the Zacks Rank to capitalize on this phenomenon. Our system takes these estimate changes into account and delivers a clear, actionable rating model.

The Zacks Rank system, stretching from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), has a noteworthy track record of outperforming, validated by third-party audits, with stocks rated #1 producing an average annual return of +25% since the year 1988. Within the past 30 days, our consensus EPS projection has moved 7.13% lower. Alaska Air Group presently features a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).

In terms of valuation, Alaska Air Group is currently trading at a Forward P/E ratio of 7.44. This denotes a discount relative to the industry average Forward P/E of 7.91.

We can additionally observe that ALK currently boasts a PEG ratio of 0.37. The PEG ratio is similar to the widely-used P/E ratio, but this metric also takes the company's expected earnings growth rate into account. The Transportation - Airline industry currently had an average PEG ratio of 0.44 as of yesterday's close.

The Transportation - Airline industry is part of the Transportation sector. This industry, currently bearing a Zacks Industry Rank of 45, finds itself in the top 19% echelons of all 250+ industries.

The Zacks Industry Rank evaluates the power of our distinct industry groups by determining the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks forming the groups. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.

Make sure to utilize Zacks.com to follow all of these stock-moving metrics, and more, in the coming trading sessions.

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Alaska Air Group, Inc. (ALK): Free Stock Analysis Report

This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).

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