{"id":77817,"date":"2024-03-13T03:44:00","date_gmt":"2024-03-13T08:44:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/equitynewsreport.com\/southwest-upgraded-to-hold-by-jefferies-after-shares-dip\/"},"modified":"2024-03-13T03:44:00","modified_gmt":"2024-03-13T08:44:00","slug":"southwest-upgraded-to-hold-by-jefferies-after-shares-dip","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/equitynewsreport.com\/h\/southwest-upgraded-to-hold-by-jefferies-after-shares-dip\/","title":{"rendered":"Southwest upgraded to Hold by Jefferies after shares dip"},"content":{"rendered":"<div readability=\"69\">\n<div id=\"imgCarousel\" class=\"imgCarousel\">\n<img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Southwest upgraded to Hold by Jefferies after shares dip\" id=\"carouselImage\" src=\"https:\/\/i-invdn-com.investing.com\/news\/LYNXNPEC0D0AP_L.jpg\"><br \/>\n<span class=\"text\">\u00a9 Reuters. <\/span><br \/>\n<i class=\"imgGrad\"><\/i>\n<\/div>\n<p>On Wednesday, Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:) received an updated stock rating from Jefferies, moving from Underperform to Hold, accompanied by an increase in the price target to $28.00, up from the previous $20.00. The revision comes after Southwest&#8217;s shares experienced a significant drop the day before.<\/p>\n<p>The adjustment in rating and price target is a response to Southwest&#8217;s recent performance and market conditions. The analyst noted that the previous day&#8217;s 15% decline in the airline&#8217;s stock price could represent a stabilization point. The commentary highlighted skepticism regarding the initial ambitious revenue per available seat mile (RASM) projections for 2024, which suggested a potential overestimation of demand.<\/p>\n<p>The reduction in the number of Boeing (NYSE:) 737 MAX aircraft is expected to impact available seat miles (ASMs) by 1 to 1.5 percentage points. However, this is somewhat mitigated outside the peak summer season. Southwest&#8217;s cost per available seat mile excluding fuel (CASM-ex) is projected to rise by 7.7%, slightly higher than previous estimates of 6-7%. This is partly due to the airline&#8217;s strategy of adjusting its hiring to manage costs.<\/p>\n<p>The analyst also pointed out that Southwest&#8217;s free cash flow (FCF) is anticipated to improve. The valuation of Southwest&#8217;s shares at 5.4 times its projected 2025 earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, amortization, and restructuring or rent costs (EBITDAR) of $3.1 billion supports the new $28 price target. This valuation is considered to be at a 60% discount compared to the , aligning with the three-year average.<\/p>\n<p>The update from Jefferies reflects a revised outlook on Southwest&#8217;s financial health and market position, suggesting a more neutral stance on the stock&#8217;s investment potential at the current time.<\/p>\n<p><em>This article was generated with the support of AI and reviewed by an editor. For more information see our T&#038;C.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u00a9 Reuters. On Wednesday, Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:) received an updated stock rating from Jefferies, moving from Underperform to Hold, accompanied by an increase in the price target to $28.00, up from the previous $20.00. The revision comes after Southwest&#8217;s shares experienced a significant drop the day before. The adjustment in rating and price target is a response to Southwest&#8217;s recent performance and market conditions. The analyst noted that the previous day&#8217;s 15% decline in the airline&#8217;s stock price could represent a stabilization point. The commentary highlighted skepticism regarding the initial ambitious revenue per available seat mile (RASM) projections for [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":77818,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[48,49,50,3],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/equitynewsreport.com\/h\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77817"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/equitynewsreport.com\/h\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/equitynewsreport.com\/h\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/equitynewsreport.com\/h\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/equitynewsreport.com\/h\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=77817"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/equitynewsreport.com\/h\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77817\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/equitynewsreport.com\/h\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/77818"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/equitynewsreport.com\/h\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=77817"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/equitynewsreport.com\/h\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=77817"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/equitynewsreport.com\/h\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=77817"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}