LUV
Southwest Airlines Co.
LUV's fundamentals are strong and it looks cheap: trading at 22x earnings, below its usual 35x. Analysts expect strong earnings growth, though they disagree widely on how much.
LUV Fundamentals
| Metric | Status |
|---|---|
| Healthy | |
| Healthy | |
| Under pressure | |
| Healthy |
LUV's revenue, profitability and balance sheet are currently healthy, but its cash flow is under pressure.
LUV PE Valuation
| Level | PE | Price | Vs current |
|---|---|---|---|
| Forward | 14x | $45.23 | — |
| Current | 22x | $45.23 | — |
| Cheap | 24x | $48.84 | +8% |
| Fair | 35x | $70.93 | +57% |
| Expensive | 48x | $97.15 | +115% |
Historical ranges are pointers, not guarantees.
LUV's PE is in its cheap range at 22x. If earnings grow as analysts expect, today's price would be 14x next year's earnings.
LUV Forward outlook
| Metric | Outlook |
|---|---|
| Strongly improving | |
| Strong growth | |
| Growth | |
| Improving | |
| Limited | |
| Low |
Analysts expect earnings and revenue growth for LUV, with profitability improving. However, they disagree widely on these estimates.
LUV Earnings Per Share
| Quarter | TTM EPS | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| Forward | $3.27 | +61% |
| Q3 2026 | $2.03 | +194% |
| Q2 2026 | $1.58 | +126% |
| Q1 2026 | $1.50 | +69% |
| Q4 2025 | $0.79 | +3.9% |
| Q3 2025 | $0.69 | +$0.75 |
| Q2 2025 | $0.70 | +400% |
| Q1 2025 | $0.89 | +39% |
| Q4 2024 | $0.76 | 0% |
LUV's earnings per share have fallen from their peak: $2.03 over the past year, against $4.28 in late 2019.
LUV Quarterly Revenue
| Quarter | Revenue | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| Q3 2026 | $8.4B | +21% |
| Q2 2026 | $8.4B | +16% |
| Q1 2026 | $7.2B | +13% |
| Q4 2025 | $7.4B | +7.4% |
| Q3 2025 | $6.9B | +1.1% |
| Q2 2025 | $7.2B | -1.5% |
| Q1 2025 | $6.4B | +1.6% |
| Q4 2024 | $6.9B | +1.6% |
LUV's revenue has grown year over year for five quarters in a row: $8.4B last quarter, up 21% from the same quarter a year ago.
| Quarter | Margin | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| Q3 2026 | 4.5% | +4 points |
| Q2 2026 | 3.4% | +0.3 points |
| Q1 2026 | 4.5% | +8 points |
| Q4 2025 | 5.3% | +1.2 points |
| Q3 2025 | 0.5% | -0.1 points |
| Q2 2025 | 3.1% | -2.3 points |
| Q1 2025 | -3.5% | +2.7 points |
| Q4 2024 | 4% | +9.9 points |
LUV's operating margin was 4.5% last quarter, up 4 points from the same quarter a year ago.
LUV Free Cash Flow
| Quarter | Free cash flow | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| Q3 2026 | -$493M | -$102M |
| Q2 2026 | -$288M | -$54M |
| Q1 2026 | $788M | +119% |
| Q4 2025 | -$564M | -3625% |
| Q3 2025 | -$391M | +$13M |
| Q2 2025 | -$234M | +$283M |
| Q1 2025 | $359M | +$1B |
| Q4 2024 | $16M | +$299M |
LUV has burned cash in most quarters: −$557M over the past year, against −$250M the year before.
LUV Total Shares
| Period | Change % | Net change |
|---|---|---|
| Quarterly | +0.2% | +1M shares |
| 1 year | -6.1% | -32M shares |
| 3 years | -23% | -146M shares |
| 5 years | -19% | -113M shares |
| Available history | -8.3% | -45M shares |
LUV has 494M diluted shares, down 6.1% from a year ago, with $1.3B in buybacks over the past year.
| Quarter | Spent |
|---|---|
| Q3 2026 | — |
| Q2 2026 | — |
| Q1 2026 | $1.3B |
| Q4 2025 | $50M |
| Q3 2025 | $250M |
| Q2 2025 | $1.5B |
| Q1 2025 | $750M |
| Q4 2024 | $250M |
LUV spent $1.3B buying back its own shares over the past year, down 53% from the year before.
LUV Net Leverage
| Quarter | Net Leverage | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Q3 2026 | 0.8x | Very low |
| Q2 2026 | 0.8x | Very low |
| Q1 2026 | 0.8x | Very low |
| Q4 2025 | 0.8x | Very low |
| Q3 2025 | 0.6x | Very low |
| Q2 2025 | 0.3x | Very low |
| Q1 2025 | -0.7x | Net Cash |
| Q4 2024 | -0.4x | Net Cash |
LUV's net debt is less than a year of its operating earnings (EBITDA).
LUV Weekly Momentum
| Metric | Value | Status |
|---|---|---|
| RSI | 55.9 | Neutral |
| Stochastic | 59.2 | Neutral |
LUV's weekly RSI is 56 (neutral) and its Stochastic is 59 (neutral).
LUV PE vs Industrials Sector
| Metric | LUV | Sector median | Relative |
|---|---|---|---|
| PE | 22x | 24x | 7.3% below |
| PE % | 15 | 58 | 43 pts below |
LUV is trading at 22x earnings, in line with the Industrials sector's median of 24x.
LUV Weekly Moving Averages
| Moving average | MA price | Relative |
|---|---|---|
| 8 week MA | $42.5 | 6.4% above |
| 20 week MA | $43.4 | 4.2% above |
| 50 week MA | $43.2 | 4.7% above |
| 100 week MA | $37.5 | 21% above |
| 200 week MA | $33.8 | 34% above |
LUV is in an uptrend: it's above all five of its weekly moving averages, and 34% above its 200-week average.
LUV Yearly ROI
| Year | Start price | End price | ROI |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | $54.3 | $46.3 | -15% |
| 2021 | $46.3 | $41.9 | -9.5% |
| 2022 | $41.9 | $36.1 | -14% |
| 2023 | $36.1 | $28.9 | -20% |
| 2024 | $28.9 | $34.0 | +18% |
| 2025 | $34.0 | $41.3 | +21% |
| 2026 YTD | $41.3 | $45.2 | +9.6% |
LUV has finished lower in four of the last six years. It's up 9.6% so far in 2026.