Stocks · Industrials · Airlines, Airports & Air Services
Southwest Airlines Co. LUV
$42.47 +1.51% Close, Oct 2, 2026 · NYSE · Market cap $20.78B
Strong growthInexpensive vs sector
Next earnings report: Oct 21, 2026
Scroll or pinch to zoom, drag to move. Daily prices adjusted for splits. Markers: E = earnings (green beat, red miss), S = split, D = dividend.
Three things to know
- Diluted EPS over the last four quarters was $1.63, up 147.0% year over year.
- The diluted share count fell 7.9% in a year, mainly through buybacks.
- The shares trade at 26.1× trailing earnings, lower than 89% of the company's own readings over the past five years.
PromtFinance scores
Each score is a percentile within the Industrials sector (0–100). Under each score: how the stock ranks in its sector on every component. As of Oct 5, 2026.
How fast revenue, earnings and cash flow are growing.
- Revenue growth (TTM, YoY)Top 45%
- EPS growth (TTM, YoY)Top 7%
- Revenue growth, 3-year CAGRTop 45%
- Revenue growth accelerationTop 21%
Returns on capital, margins, earnings quality and balance-sheet strength.
- Return on invested capitalBottom 42%
- Gross marginTop 4%
- Operating marginBottom 34%
- Cash conversion (OCF / net income)Top 16%
- Accruals (lower is better)Top 41%
- Net debt / EBITDA (lower is better)Top 39%
- Interest coverTop 37%
How cheap the shares are relative to earnings, cash flow and their own history.
- Earnings yieldTop 32%
- Free-cash-flow yieldBottom 21%
- EBITDA / enterprise valueTop 13%
- Sales / enterprise valueTop 15%
- P/E vs own 5-year history (lower is better)Top 17%
Strength and persistence of the price trend, including versus the S&P 500.
- 12-month return excluding last monthTop 40%
- 6-month returnTop 37%
- 1-year return vs S&P 500Top 30%
- Distance from 52-week highTop 44%
- Trend checklist (0–4)Top 42%
Earnings surprises and analyst sentiment (estimate-revision history is being collected).
- Average EPS surprise, last 4 quartersTop 4%
- Consecutive EPS beatsBottom 39%
- Share of analysts rating BuyBottom 25%
- Upside to consensus price targetBottom 26%
Low volatility, shallow drawdowns, low market sensitivity and modest leverage.
- Volatility, 60 days (lower is better)Top 31%
- Maximum drawdown, 3 yearsTop 19%
- Beta vs S&P 500 (lower is better)Bottom 31%
- Net debt / EBITDA (lower is better)Top 39%
What changed
Latest four quarters versus the same period a year earlier (growth: versus one quarter earlier).
| Measure | Before | Now | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue growth (YoY) | 4.7% | 9.5% | ↑ |
| EPS growth (YoY) | 82.4% | 147.0% | ↑ |
| Gross margin | 16.6% | 61.0% | ↑ |
| Operating margin | 1.2% | 3.5% | ↑ |
| FCF margin | -1.0% | -2.1% | ↓ |
Fundamental momentum
| Measure | Now (TTM) | Year / quarter before | Sector rank | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue growth (TTM, YoY) | 9.5% | 4.7% | ↑ | Top 45% |
| EPS growth (TTM, YoY) | 147.0% | 82.4% | ↑ | Top 7% |
| Gross margin | 61.0% | 16.6% | ↑ | Top 4% |
| Operating margin | 3.5% | 1.2% | ↑ | Bottom 34% |
| Net margin | 2.8% | 1.4% | ↑ | — |
| Free-cash-flow margin | -2.1% | -1.0% | ↓ | — |
| Return on invested capital | 4.2% | — | Bottom 42% | |
| Revenue growth, 3-year CAGR | 5.6% | — | Top 45% |
Quality of earnings and balance sheet
- Cash conversion (OCF / net income)Above 1× means profits are backed by cash.
- 2.82×
- Accruals (net income − OCF) / assetsLower is better; high accruals can signal weaker earnings quality.
- -5.1%
- Stock-based compensation / revenueA cost to shareholders through dilution.
- 0.0%
- Receivables growth vs revenue growthReceivables growing much faster than sales can be a warning.
- +10.8 pp
- Net debt / EBITDABelow 1× is conservative; above 3× is high leverage.
- 1.29×
- Interest cover (operating income / interest)How many times operating profit covers interest.
- 6.1×
Shareholder returns
- Dividend yield (dividends paid, TTM)
- 1.78%
- Net buyback yield (TTM)
- 7.18%
- Shareholder yield
- 8.96%
- Share count change, 1 year
- -7.9%
- Share count change, 3-year CAGR
- -8.0%
Shareholder yield = dividends + net buybacks over the last four quarters, divided by market cap.
Based on the four quarters through Jun 30, 2026 (filed Jul 23, 2026).
Earnings and expectations
Earnings momentum
- Consecutive EPS beats
- 1
- Beats in the last 8 reports
- 6 of 8
- Average EPS surprise, last 4
- +100.0%
- Average 2-day reaction, last 8
- -1.6%
- Positive 20 days after report
- 3 of 8
Analysts
- Consensus price target
- $49.51
- Target vs current price
- +16.6%
- Analysts with a rating
- 45
- Share rating Buy or Strong Buy
- 42%
- Consensus rating
- Hold
How the stock reacted to recent reports
| Report date | EPS surprise | 2 days | 5 days | 20 days | 60 days |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jul 22, 2026 | +84.3% | -2.1% | -4.9% | -12.7% | — |
| Apr 22, 2026 | -4.9% | -3.8% | -7.1% | -8.7% | +17.5% |
| Jan 28, 2026 | +2.1% | -1.2% | +23.8% | +20.7% | -8.7% |
| Oct 22, 2025 | +398.7% | -2.7% | -10.4% | -7.8% | +24.3% |
| Jul 23, 2025 | -15.9% | +0.7% | -16.3% | -15.0% | -9.7% |
| Apr 23, 2025 | +29.2% | +3.1% | +10.1% | +31.3% | +47.5% |
| Jan 30, 2025 | +21.3% | -1.2% | -2.4% | -3.2% | -16.3% |
| Oct 24, 2024 | +3650.0% | -5.6% | +2.4% | +3.4% | +3.7% |
Returns from the close before each report. Past reactions do not determine future ones.
Earnings history
| Report date | EPS | Estimate | Surprise | Revenue |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jul 22, 2026 | $0.94 | $0.51 | +84.3% | $8.43B |
| Apr 22, 2026 | $0.45 | $0.47 | -4.9% | $7.25B |
| Jan 28, 2026 | $0.58 | $0.57 | +2.1% | $7.44B |
| Oct 22, 2025 | $0.11 | -$0.04 | +398.7% | $6.95B |
| Jul 23, 2025 | $0.43 | $0.51 | -15.9% | $7.24B |
| Apr 23, 2025 | -$0.13 | -$0.18 | +29.2% | $6.43B |
| Jan 30, 2025 | $0.56 | $0.46 | +21.3% | $6.93B |
| Oct 24, 2024 | $0.15 | $0.00 | +3650.0% | $6.87B |
Valuation in context
| Multiple | Now | 5-year median | 5-year percentile | Sector rank (cheapness) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| P/E (trailing) | 26.1× | 40.8× | 11th | Top 32% |
| P/E (forward) | 13.8× | — | — | — |
| EV / EBITDA | 9.0× | — | — | Top 13% |
| EV / Sales | 0.81× | — | — | Top 15% |
| Free-cash-flow yield | -2.99% | — | — | Bottom 21% |
| Earnings yield | 3.84% | — | — | Top 32% |
P/E over the past five years
Range 24.0× – 219.3× since Dec 31, 2021. Each point: price on the filing date divided by trailing-twelve-month EPS known then.
What moved the stock over the past year
- Price return, 1 year
- +31.6%
- Earnings per share growth (TTM)
- +147.0%
- Change in P/E multiple
- -45.6%
Most of the move came from earnings growth.
Technical state
Trend checklist
- ✓ Price above 20-day average
- ✓ Price above 50-day average
- ✗ Price above 200-day average
- ✗ 50-day average above 200-day
- ✓ MACD histogram positive
Trend quality
- Days above the 50-day average
- 1
- Days above the 200-day average
- 0
- 50-day average slope (20 days)
- -7.5%
- 200-day average slope (20 days)
- +1.1%
- Distance from 50-day average
- +0.6%
- Distance from 200-day average
- -2.4%
- RSI (14)
- 57.1
- Relative volume
- 1.01×
Risk and drawdowns
- Volatility, 60 days (annualized)
- 34.5%
- Volatility vs own 5-year history
- 40th percentile · Normal for this stock
- Beta vs S&P 500 (2 years, weekly)
- 1.34
- Correlation with S&P 500
- 0.47
- Current drawdown from 1-year high
- -22.5%
- Maximum drawdown, 3 years
- -33.8%
Largest declines in the past six years
| From peak | To low | Decline | Length | Recovery |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apr 6, 2021 | Oct 31, 2023 | -65.3% | 648 days | Not yet recovered |
| Oct 23, 2020 | Oct 28, 2020 | -10.9% | 3 days | 8 days (Nov 9, 2020) |
Declines of 10% or more from a closing high, measured on daily closes.
Financial statements
- Market cap
- $20.78B
- P/E (TTM)
- 26.1
- EPS, diluted (TTM)
- $1.63
- Revenue (TTM)
- $30.07B
- Dividend yield
- 1.70%
- 52-week range
- $29.26 – $55.11
| FY 2021 | FY 2022 | FY 2023 | FY 2024 | FY 2025 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | $15.79B | $23.81B | $26.09B | $27.48B | $28.06B |
| Gross profit | $4.12B | $4.75B | $4.22B | $4.46B | $4.89B |
| Operating income | $1.72B | $1.02B | $224.0M | $321.0M | $428.0M |
| Net income | $977.0M | $539.0M | $465.0M | $465.0M | $441.0M |
| EPS (diluted) | $1.61 | $0.87 | $0.76 | $0.75 | $0.79 |
| Q3 2024 | Q4 2024 | Q1 2025 | Q2 2025 | Q3 2025 | Q4 2025 | Q1 2026 | Q2 2026 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | $6.87B | $6.93B | $6.43B | $7.24B | $6.95B | $7.44B | $7.25B | $8.43B |
| Net income | $67.0M | $261.0M | -$149.0M | $213.0M | $54.0M | $323.0M | $227.0M | $233.0M |
| EPS (diluted) | $0.11 | $0.42 | -$0.26 | $0.39 | $0.10 | $0.61 | $0.45 | $0.47 |
| FY 2021 | FY 2022 | FY 2023 | FY 2024 | FY 2025 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Operating cash flow | $2.32B | $3.79B | $3.16B | $462.0M | $1.84B |
| Capital expenditure | -$511.0M | -$3.95B | -$3.52B | -$2.08B | -$2.67B |
| Free cash flow | $1.81B | -$156.0M | -$356.0M | -$1.62B | -$831.0M |
| Dividends paid | $0 | $0 | -$428.0M | -$430.0M | -$399.0M |
| Net share buybacks | $51.0M | $45.0M | $48.0M | -$190.0M | -$2.49B |
Cash outflows are shown as negative numbers.
- Cash and short-term investments
- $3.79B
- Total assets
- $30.12B
- Total liabilities
- $23.04B
- Total debt
- $6.89B
- Net debt
- $3.50B
- Shareholders’ equity
- $7.08B
As of Jun 30, 2026 (filed Jul 23, 2026).
Dividends
| Ex-date | Amount | Paid |
|---|---|---|
| Sep 3, 2026 | $0.18 | Sep 24, 2026 |
| Jun 11, 2026 | $0.18 | Jul 2, 2026 |
| Mar 12, 2026 | $0.18 | Apr 2, 2026 |
| Dec 26, 2025 | $0.18 | Jan 16, 2026 |
| Sep 3, 2025 | $0.18 | Sep 24, 2025 |
| Jun 18, 2025 | $0.18 | Jul 9, 2025 |
| Mar 12, 2025 | $0.18 | Apr 2, 2025 |
| Dec 26, 2024 | $0.18 | Jan 16, 2025 |
Short interest
- Shares sold short
- 22,075,369
- Days to cover
- 4.50
- Change vs previous report
- -21.6%
FINRA short interest, settlement date Sep 15, 2026.
Stock splits
- Feb 16, 2001
- 3-for-2
- Jul 20, 1999
- 3-for-2
- Aug 21, 1998
- 3-for-2
- Nov 28, 1997
- 3-for-2
- Jul 16, 1993
- 3-for-2