Alaska Air Group, Inc.

Fundamental Analysis
Alaska Air Group, Inc. (ALK) is an American airline focused on passenger transportation on the West Coast of the United States and the State of Alaska. It is headquartered in SeaTac, Washington state. It is the fifth-largest carrier in the United States in terms of passengers carried.
The company operates under two brands, Alaska air (mainline) and Horizon air (regional airline). Both companies operate independently, each with its own business plan and risk factors.
In late 2023, Alaska Air Group announced its intention to purchase a third carrier: Hawaiian arilines.
Alaska air focuses on the domestic U.S. market and surrounding states for primarily holiday flights. All are served by short to medium range single-aisle aircraft. It does not operate any overseas routes. The company uses aircraft from only one manufacturer: Boeing. And only the 737 series in all variants (700-900 and MAX8 and MAX9).
The group’s general strategy is based on three pillars, which the group published in 2022.
1) Linking integrity across the airline network and internal departments of the company.
2) Making working conditions more attractive for existing employees so that they have no reason to leave. (The company has signed 5 major labour agreements with unions/employees to ensure their remuneration is at or above market levels).
3) Consolidating the fleet to only one type of aircraft (Alaska air will only use Boeing 737 MAX and Horizon will use Brazilian Embraer 175. This will reduce maintenance costs)
Results
The company is doing well after the covid, revenues are higher than before the covid. For this year, it expects revenues of over USD 10 billion (Pre covid approx. USD 8.5 billion). Profit is around USD 2 billion.
Cumulative earnings were of course hit by covid 19, however the company expects a net profit of over USD 250 million this year.
The company’s PE is 7.8.
Technical analysis
The company’s beta is 1.6.
Average volume is over 4,000,000 shares per day. Thus, the stock is very liquid.
The moving averages are in a downtrend. The RSI is in the neutral zone. The price is around strong resistance at $38 per share.
Conclusion
The company is affected by the grounding of part of the fleet (MAX9). This will surely impact the capacity that the carrier can offer. Furthermore, the purchase of Hawaiian Arlines is currently impacting the price. Details are unknown. It depends on the details whether this purchase will be a bargain or not.
From a technical standpoint, it is important to note that the stock is so-called countertrend at the moment. The S&P500 is in an uptrend, while ALK’s price has been falling for some time.
Sources
https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/ALK
https://investor.alaskaair.com/financial-information/annual-reports
https://investor.alaskaair.com/static-files/f023aedd-998b-4f10-ac81-1a1811583ea5
https://investor.alaskaair.com/static-files/4ec441f5-99bb-45cd-99a8-e56638180dc6
https://finance.yahoo.com/quote/ALK?p=ALK&.tsrc=fin-srch