Southwest Airlines Co. (LUV)

I decided to create a portfolio with only products or services that I use without regard to price/value in order to compare with my own personal port

They can't all crash and burn...

Wrights is gone!

inverse of oil prices

best service i have had on a airline

Been undervalued for along time. most consistent airline. Slowing expansion so they can concentrate on profitability from current route system

Very well managed historically. They're snapping up new planes like crazy. They're experimenting with privately held (very private data) ATA on codesharing on Hawaiian routes while mgt. says they're studying international routes. They continue to expand US routes. The planes are always full. Margins are tight. Employees are happy. Etc. They're poised to gain some significant market share.

Like Ford, it's the only one left standing.

Still the strongest of the small domestic airlines. Happy customers and good management will allow LUV to overperform the market.

Outside its recent inspection ordeals, the airline provider was number one in the market agaist all its competition.Its still a potential gainer i the long wrong.

The company is currently selling at a low. It's solid balance sheet, earnings, and low P/E ratio coupled with it's supposedly hedged fuel prices should make this coompany an outperform.

Still the only airline in the black, Southwest is an exceptionally run company that has the entire work force behind its success.

Southwest consistently makes a profit amongst a sea of competitors who cannot. Their secret weapon is their people and their culture. In a word (or two) good management. Competitor after competitor has tried to copy them. So far, all have failed. Copying the use of 737's hasn't done it, neither has using point to point short haul routes or secondary airports. There is no "secret" to Southwest's success. Every major business school teaches it every semester. But, as one CEO of another excellent company once said, "I could leave my strategic plan on a plane and it wouldn't matter. My competitors can't implement it." What it takes is the will to manage well. It is so much easier to copy something...easy to copy. But, if it is easy to copy, it won't be a source of sustainable competitive advantage. And the sucker's draw is always there. We'll cut pensions, we'll threaten our employees...the standard approach to motivating and managing others that does so poorly but is so much easier to implement than empowering and respecting them.

Even though futures contracts will end in the coming months/years, the business model is suited for all the changes in the airline industry. Complaints, baggage loss, delays, and service in general is much better than other airlines. The only other company that provides a similar service level is JetBlue, but since the company is much newer, I'd make my bet on Southwest. The stock has short term and long term growth potential. Good purchase price would be between 15 and 15.25. Short term, price will get to about 16.27 in the next few weeks, at which point you could sell for a healthy 3% gain. You could also hold for long term, since this is the healthiest airline in the market.

90 day moving avg looks good, 15 is a huge support level.

Here you have a company that changed the prevailing model within its industry and has consistently grown and made money over the last 25 or 30 years.

Strong company in a weak sector.

the only airline i own

Solid airline with the best business model.