# Southwest Airlines Co. (LUV) — Stock CV

Southwest Airlines Co. is a $20.6B consumer company. Revenue grew 9.5% over the last year, it keeps 3¢ of every dollar of sales as profit, and it carries $1.67B of net debt. It trades at 24.3× earnings — near the lowest of its own history.

> Southwest Airlines is the largest domestic air carrier in the United States by passengers boarded. Southwest operates nearly 800 aircraft in an all-Boeing 737 fleet.

## Identity

- **Ticker**: LUV
- **Sector**: Consumer Cyclical
- **Industry**: Air Transportation, Scheduled
- **Headquarters**: DALLAS, TX
- **Employees**: 73 456
- **Website**: https://www.southwest.com
- **Market cap**: $20.6B
- **Last price**: $42.19
- **Financial profile**: Mixed

## Vitals (TTM)

- **Revenue**: $30.1B
- **Net income**: $837M
- **Free cash flow**: -$457M
- **Net debt**: $1.67B
- **P/E**: 24.3
- **Revenue growth (YoY)**: 9.5%

## Skills (profile scores, 0–100)

| Pillar | Score |
|---|---|
| Valuation | 70 |
| Growth | 45 |
| Profitability | 28 |
| Health | 48 |
| Quality | 59 |
| Moat | 18 |

## Qualifications (beginner checklist) — 7 of 11 passed

- [x] Revenue growing — +9.5% YoY
- [x] Profitable — $837M TTM
- [ ] Profit growing — -2.0% YoY
- [ ] Generates cash — -$457M TTM
- [ ] Debt under control — current ratio 0.49
- [x] Established company — $20.6B market cap
- [x] Not printing shares — -1.2% shares over ~5y
- [x] Proven track record — 9/10 profitable years
- [ ] Financially stable — Altman Z 1.6 — distress
- [x] Pays a dividend — yield 2.86%
- [x] Valuation not extreme — P/E 24.3

## Experience (career milestones)

- **FY2018** — Became debt-free: cash now exceeds total debt
- **FY2017** — Best year on record: $3.49B net income
- **FY2016** — First recorded profitable year: $2.24B net income
- **FY2016** — Revenue already above $10B: $20.4B in first reported year
- **Mar 9, 1967** — The airline was established on March 9, 1967, by Herb Kelleher and Rollin King as Air Southwest Co

## Strengths

- High gross margin (70.7%)
- Interest covered 9.3× by operating earnings
- Piotroski F-Score 7/9 — fundamentally strong checklist

## Watch-outs

- Negative free cash flow (-$457.0M)
- Altman Z-Score 1.64 — elevated financial-distress risk
- Loss-making in 1 of the recent years

## Track record

| Year | Revenue | Net income | Free cash flow |
|---|---|---|---|
| FY2021 | $15.8B | $977M | $1.82B |
| FY2022 | $23.8B | $539M | -$134M |
| FY2023 | $26.1B | $465M | -$356M |
| FY2024 | $27.5B | $465M | -$1.59B |
| FY2025 | $28.1B | $441M | -$831M |

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Source: https://stockcv.com/LUV — derived from company filings; may be delayed or incomplete. Information, not investment advice.