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Zacks' 7 Best Strong Buy Stocks (New Research Report)
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Valued at $99, click below to receive our just-released report
predicting the 7 stocks that will soar highest in the coming month.
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Alaska Air Group (ALK) Reports Increased Traffic in March
Alaska Air Group Inc. (ALK - Free Report) reported its March traffic numbers on Apr 10. The carrier witnessed a 5.5% increase in consolidated traffic (measured in revenue passenger miles, RPMs). RPMs came in at 4.4 billion, up from 4.1 billion recorded in Mar 2016.
On a year-over-year basis, consolidated capacity (or available seat miles/ASMs) rose 5.7% to 5.1 billion. Meanwhile, the load factor or percentage of seats filled by passengers decreased to 85.4% from 85.6% recorded in Mar 2016, as capacity expansion outpaced traffic growth.
At the end of the first three months of 2017, Alaska Air Group generated RPMs of 11.7 billion (up 4.7% year over year) and ASMs of 14.4 billion (up 4.9% year over year). Load factor was 81.3% compared with 81.5% in the first three months of 2016.
Alaska Air recently unveiled a bullish long-term view on its Investor Day presentation. The carrier, which acquired Virgin America late last year, said that the integration process is progressing well with major milestones expected to be attained in 2018.
Price Performance
Shares of Alaska Air gained 26.42% in the last six months, outperforming the Zacks categorized Transportation-Airline industry’s gain of 23.6% over the same period.
The impressive traffic report is a further positive for the stock.
Zacks Rank & Key Picks
Alaska Air currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). Better-ranked stocks in the broader transportation sector are Gol Linhas Aereas Inteligentes , Aegean Marine Petroleum Network and Deutsche Lufthansa (DLAKY - Free Report) . Gol Linhas and Aegean Marine Petroleum sport a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), while Deutsche Lufthansa carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.
Shares of Gol Linhas, Aegean Marine Petroleum and Deutsche Lufthansa gained over 125%, 27% and 25%, respectively, on a year-to-date basis.
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