EngineOut

I guess we can buy tickets on Travelocity now?

https://www.nasdaq.com/articles/sout...ide-2021-01-01
Southwest Airlines Signs Agreement with Sabre; Street Sees 14% Upside

CONTRIBUTOR
Daniel Plaks TipRanks
PUBLISHED
JAN 1, 2021 5:45AM ESTFEATURED IN SMART INVESTING
Learn MoreSouthwest Airlines Co. and Sabre Corp. have finally reached an agreement after two years of discussions that will allow the companies to continue offering clients access to low fares and improved customer service in 2021.

Southwest Airlines Co. (LUV), which will celebrate its 50th anniversary this year has itself a goal to offer exemplary customer service by its 58,000 employees.

Sabre (SABR) is a software and technology company that serves a wide range of travel companies including airlines, hotels, and travel agencies. Sabre connects travel suppliers with buyers from around the globe and its technology platform manages more than $260 billion worth of global travel spend annually.

As part of the agreement, Southwest Airlines flights and services will be distributed through Sabre’s travel marketplace, promoting the airline's offerings to Sabre-connected agencies and other travel buyers.

Southwest Airilines Chief Commercial Officer, Andrew Watterson, said in a statement, "Providing our content in Sabre GDS with industry-standard capabilities has continued to be a top priority of our Customers. He added, “We are thrilled to come to terms that are mutually beneficial for our Customers and continue our long-standing partnership with Sabre.”

Southwest stock hit a multi-year low in May 2020, but improved investor sentiment and positive Covid-19 developments helped the stock recover much of its losses. However, shares still ended 2020 with a 15% decline. (See LUV stock analysis on TipRanks)

Last month, Deutsche Bank analyst Michael Linenberg downgraded the stock from a Buy to a Hold but raised his price target from $48 to $50 (7% upside potential).

Linenberg believes that airline stocks are at or near fair value based on 2022 valuations, suggesting that investors have already paid for two years of earnings growth. Meanwhile, the analyst remains bullish on the sector in the long-term.

Consensus among analysts is a Moderate Buy based on 9 Buys, 3 Holds and 1 Sell. The average price target of $53.08 suggests upside potential of around 14% over the next 12 months.
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The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.

flensr

This is a big deal. They told us in training that they were hitting the business travel systems pretty hard, but I think this one puts us in front of everyone as well as adding the hotel and rental car bundling options on one screen like everyone else.

Any fare advantage we have on any particular routing will be instantly highlighted, even without any special deals we might have with hotels and rental cars that can sweeten the deal for people who like to bundle all that together.

e6bpilot

This doesn't mean SWA tickets will be on outside websites. It's all business and government travel.

This is huge for business travel...when it returns. SWA is well positioned for a strong recovery.

hoover

Does this mean we can accept foreign currency now?

flensr

Don't get all crazy now...

N6279P

Business travel and Southwest? That’s pretty funny.

ZapBrannigan

Maybe back when they had frequent service between business markets. But when you drop down to 2 or 3 flights a day between markets, probably not. SW is a big enough airline to employ the shuttle model between big business travel city pairs.

e6bpilot

Laugh all you want. It was steadily picking up before we hit the COVID brakes. A lot of folks would rather have their choice of nonstop flights in markets that SWA serves regularly rather than fly two legs in an RJ. Not all business travel is transcon or overseas between big cities. Plenty of business travelers have flown SWA a long time and will continue to do so.

Plenty of government travel too, and they just started that a few years ago.

Zard

Didn't Sabre buy Dunder-Mifflin?

e6bpilot

Correct.

Dunder Mifflin is a part of Sab-ray.