Latest revenue
$7.25B
as of 2026-03-31
Latest net income
$227.0M
as of 2026-03-31
Net margin
3.1%
as of 2026-03-31
Price · 5Y
Live market
delayed ≤15 min- Market cap
- $19.97B
- Enterprise value
- $22.03B
- P/E (trailing)
- 45.3×
- Forward P/E
- —
- P/B
- 2.90×
- Dividend yield
- 1.8%
- 52-wk high
- $55.11
- 52-wk low
- $28.98
- Beta
- —
- Shares out
- 488.8M
5-year trend
What this company does
Southwest Airlines runs a major U.S. passenger airline, flying scheduled domestic and near-international routes with a single-segment, point-to-point network. Passenger ticket sales drive the business, generating $6.6 billion of the $7.2 billion in first-quarter 2026 revenue, with ancillary fees and freight rounding out the rest. The carrier swung to a $227 million profit from a year-earlier loss while aggressively shrinking its share count, repurchasing $1.25 billion of stock in the quarter and cutting cash reserves to $3.3 billion from $7.5 billion a year ago.
Generated from LUV's filing dated 2026-02-05
Key risks
- Aggressive buybacks eroding equity: $1.27B repurchased in Q1 2026 (28M shares), driving stockholders' equity down from $10.35B to $6.88B YoY.
- Cash position halved to $3.33B from $8.13B a year earlier, while current liabilities ($12.48B) now exceed current assets ($5.97B) by $6.5B.
- Thin margin recovery: Q1 operating income just $330M on $7.25B revenue (4.6% margin); fuel costs rose 8.6% YoY to $1.36B despite cost discipline.
Generated from LUV's filing dated 2026-02-05
Profitability
Operating margin
1.5%
30.6%Net margin
1.6%
7.1%Return on equity
5.5%
23.0%Return on assets
1.5%
10.1%Leverage
Debt / equity
2.64×
16.8%Long-term debt / equity
0.57×
17.1%Debt / assets
72.5%
4.6%Earnings tracker
| Quarter | Revenue | YoY | Net income | YoY | Net margin |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Q1 2026 2026-03-31 | $7.25B | +12.8% | $227.0M | +252.3% | 3.1% |
Q4 2025 2025-12-31 | $7.44B | +7.4% | $472.0M | -4.1% | 6.3% |
Q3 2025 2025-09-30 | $6.95B | +1.1% | $54.0M | -19.4% | 0.8% |
Q2 2025 2025-06-30 | $7.24B | -1.5% | $64.0M | -53.3% | 0.9% |
Q1 2025 2025-03-31 | $6.43B | +1.6% | $-149.0M | +35.5% | -2.3% |
Q4 2024 2024-12-31 | $6.93B | — | $492.0M | — | 7.1% |
Q3 2024 2024-09-30 | $6.87B | +5.3% | $67.0M | -65.3% | 1.0% |
Q2 2024 2024-06-30 | $7.35B | +4.5% | $137.0M | -73.9% | 1.9% |
Year-over-year change vs the same fiscal quarter one year prior. Revenue + net income sourced from SEC 10-Q / 10-K filings — no analyst-consensus dependency.
Industry trend
Air Transportation, Scheduled · SIC 4512
Your notes
Keep private notes on LUV — thesis, target price, catalysts to watch.
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Insider activity
Insider buying
$145.5K
Insider selling
$306.5K
Net activity
−$161.1K
Distinct insiders
4
Open-market trades over the last 365 days.
Recent transactions
Source: SEC Form 4 filings. Officers, directors, and 10%+ owners must disclose share transactions within two business days. RSU grants and tax-withholding rows are excluded by default — compensation activity is not a trading signal.
Who owns LUV
Institutional value
$9.13B
Total shares held
245.8M
Distinct holders
615
As of
2026-03-31
Filers with $100M+ AUM disclose holdings 45 days after quarter end.
Top institutional holders
| # | Manager | Shares | Value | QoQ change | Action |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | PRIMECAP MANAGEMENT CO/CA/ | 47.1M | $1.77B | — | New |
| 2 | FRANKLIN RESOURCES INC | 44.4M | $1.67B | — | New |
| 3 | VANGUARD CAPITAL MANAGEMENT LLC | 31.6M | $1.19B | — | New |
| 4 | BlackRock, Inc. | 28.6M | $1.07B | — | New |
| 5 | VANGUARD PORTFOLIO MANAGEMENT LLC | 23.1M | $869.0M | — | New |
| 6 | Invesco Ltd. | 6.5M | $244.9M | — | New |
| 7 | DIMENSIONAL FUND ADVISORS LP | 5.8M | $216.5M | — | New |
| 8 | JPMORGAN CHASE & CO | 4.4M | $159.7M | — | New |
| 9 | Bank of New York Mellon Corp | 3.9M | $147.4M | — | New |
| 10 | FEDERATED HERMES, INC. | 2.8M | $105.0M | — | New |
| 11 | JANE STREET GROUP, LLC | 2.8M | $104.6M | — | New |
| 12 | VANGUARD FIDUCIARY TRUST CO | 2.8M | $104.0M | — | New |
| 13 | UBS Group AG | 2.5M | $95.6M | — | New |
| 14 | SOUND SHORE MANAGEMENT INC /CT/ | 2.0M | $75.2M | — | New |
| 15 | U S GLOBAL INVESTORS INC | 1.7M | $62.7M | — | New |
| 16 | RHUMBLINE ADVISERS | 1.3M | $47.9M | — | New |
| 17 | Nuveen, LLC | 1.2M | $45.1M | — | New |
| 18 | Vanguard Global Advisers, LLC | 1.1M | $40.6M | — | New |
| 19 | DEUTSCHE BANK AG\ | 1.0M | $39.1M | — | New |
| 20 | NORDEA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT AB | 1.1M | $39.1M | — | New |
Source: SEC Form 13F-HR. Positions aggregated across sub-managers within each firm. Options (puts/calls) excluded — common stock only.
Top questions investors are asking
- 1
You repurchased $1.25B of stock this quarter while equity dropped from $10.4B to $6.9B YoY—how do you justify that pace given only $3.3B cash and a new $500M debt raise?
- 2
Passenger revenue grew 13% YoY but CASM-ex still rose materially with salaries up $195M—when does unit cost growth actually inflect, and what's the bag-fee/assigned-seating contribution embedded in Q1?
- 3
Interest income collapsed from $84M to $23M as cash fell from $8.1B to $3.3B—what's the minimum liquidity floor before you halt buybacks, and have you stress-tested a fuel or demand shock?
Refreshed when LUV files a new report · last from 2026-02-05