Wednesday, July 16, 2008

High Flyers: Oil and the Airlines (CAL; DAL; LCC; NWA)

I apologize for leaving you, reality intruded and, as I am reminded, I am not paid for my wit, charm or modesty. So what was I up to? Part of the time, trying to torture the slide rule into telling me what to do with these four miscreants:
...And the stock tip? Buy some airlines for a one week trade. The strongest stocks seem to be NWA and DAL, although LCC and CAL might give you a bigger pop.
Remember though it's a trade. There's a real risk they could go out of business.

NORTHWEST AIRLINE
(NYSE: NWA)

After Hours: 6.89 Down 0.31 (4.36%)5:12PM ET

Last Trade:7.20
Trade Time:4:09PM ET
Change:Up 1.81 (33.58%)

DELTA AIR LINES NEW
(NYSE: DAL)

After Hours: 5.7362 Down 0.1738 (2.94%)5:12PM ET

Last Trade:5.91
Trade Time:4:06PM ET
Change:Up 1.24 (26.55%)

US AIRWAYS GROUP INC
(NYSE: LCC)

After Hours: 2.24 0.00 (0.00%)5:19PM ET

Last Trade:2.24
Trade Time:4:08PM ET
Change:Up 0.48 (27.27%)

CONTL AIRLINES CL B
(NYSE: CAL)

After Hours: 9.18 Down 0.01 (0.11%)5:21PM ET

Last Trade:9.19
Trade Time:4:00PM ET
Change:Up 2.54 (38.20%)

As it turned out (for today) the two "stronger" stocks averaged 30.06% today, the two "pops" 32.73% and I forgot to mention the star (and riskiest) of the bunch:

UAL CORP NEW
(NasdaqGS: UAUA)

After Hours: 4.4600 Up 0.0300 (0.68%)5:21PM ET

Last Trade:4.43
Trade Time:4:00PM ET
Change:Up 1.30 (41.53%)

All quotes via Yahoo Finance.
So what's next? Who knows. The magic number on oil is $132.00, declines stopped there five times in the last month-and-a-half. I'll update the airline's results after the close on Friday.
Sorry about the "Who knows?", I'm all decisioned out.

UPDATE 6:05 EST- oil was up fiddy cent in after hours trade at $135.10 after settling at $134.60. See ya'll tomorrow.