Delta Air Lines Inc (DAL)

He likes the airlines and expects the US economy to expand. The number of US airlines have shrunk a lot, down to four, but they are mispriced to their relationship to loyalty-point cards. Delta signed a deal with AmEx where Delta believes they will have $7 billion in excess cash flow by 2023. That's pretty good. Everybody loves loyalty points to buy seats. It benefit consumers and airlines which have done a great job of upselling. Fuel prices have been a concern, but the oil price has remained low. Even if the economy heads into recession, Delta's balance sheet is lean and mean.

(A Top Pick July 18/17 - Up 8%) Oil prices seemed to have stabilized, they are charging 30 dollars now for a checked baggage. They are returning capital. The risk is if the economy falls down. He sees a lot of upside still based on valuations.

Is this time different for airlines? They've consolidated and they say they won't fight each other about capacity this time. Delta and the others look pretty good now. But rising oil prices forced Delta to issue guidance to limit expectations. This is trading at 8.5x earnings. He thinks this time is indeed different for the airlines. Delta generates a lot of money from its credit cards (air miles). Good dividend and they're buying back stock.

It's as good as any airline. Good 11% return on invested capital. Now's a good time to buy airlines, despite abysmal longer-time history.

Doesn't own any airlines right now. Had looked at Air Canada (AC-T) which had an incredible year last year. You could come up with a million and one issues of why you would never want to own an airline, but at the same time you could make an argument that you are in the sweet spot of a cycle for the airlines.

The stock took a hit. She likes it because she is seeing better cash flow than their peers. They really have some exceptional free cash flow yields. They are able to increase their margins. (Analysts’ target: $63.00).

Transportation stocks have had a kind of bumpy last few months, and have pulled back down, so are more attractive on a valuation perspective. He generally likes airlines. The business has been rationalized as they have "whittled down" to a large handful of players. They seem to be competing less on price, therefore respecting one another’s margins. Labour, etc. seems to have been put in the background. With global economy improving, they are able to keep prices high. This has a PE of less than 10.

The US airlines have fundamentally transformed themselves. They used to be carefree and footloose with funds. Over the last 4 years they have consolidated, and there are now only 4 major carriers, and have been enormously profitable. This is buying back stock hand over fist. Raised its dividend, and announced a 50% dividend increase for the next quarter. Trading at about 9X earnings. Dividend yield of 1.5%. (Analysts’ price target is $66.)

Chart shows this is retesting old highs, and that is always bullish.