Originally Posted by
ryane946
Southwest stock = FLAT!
In March 2003 I purchases LUV for about $12 a share. Sold it at $16 a share in December 2005. Made a whole $400. Yippee!!
At the same time I bought Boeing and Skywest. Made about $1500 from Skywest and $5500 from Boeing. Southwest is not a great stock. Check out this graph of their 5 year average.
http://moneycentral.msn.com/investor...&DisplayForm=1
I know everyone hates it when I mention it, but remember that Southwest is paying $36 a barrel for fuel, while all the other airlines are stuck paying $60 plus a barrel.
FUEL IS AN AIRLINES LARGEST EXPENSE!!!
So be careful with that stock when 2009 rolls around!
Ryan,
Sorry you didn't make more on your purchase of LUV. You did make money though so you must have monitored the up and down cycle (flat is the right word)which has resulted the last five years. I to have invested in LUV and have been blessed with more than 400k, but I will tell you I am disappointed for all those who invested in LUV during this time period you mention.
I to believe the hedges have been a "profit" saver for SWA because of troubled airlines being subsidized in bankruptcy, etc. The only reason LUV has been flat is because of the subsidization of the rest of the industry! Bankruptcy, government loans, and flat out robbery from hard working employees has allowed "competition" to be a joke in th airline industry. If the market had been allowed to "correct" itself we would have fewer airlines and the remaining airlines (including SWA) would be able to increase their profit margins and an increase in their stock price would be a result of "fair" competition.