Southwest Airlines shares close higher on Tuesday, company releases preliminary traffic report for April

Southwest Airlines Company (LUV) released on Tuesday its preliminary traffic report for April, according to which revenue passenger miles dropped 0.3% year-on-year to 11,202,109 during the month. In year-to-date terms, revenue passenger miles rose 2.6% to 41,641,601, the airline said.

Shares of Southwest Airlines closed higher for the fifth time in the past eleven trading sessions on Tuesday. The stock went up 0.63% ($0.33) to $52.33, after touching an intraday high at $53.06, or a price level not seen since May 4th ($53.10).

In the week ended on May 6th the shares of the transportation company lost 1.40% of their market value compared to a week ago, which marked a fifth consecutive period of decrease.

The stock has pared its loss to 0.95% so far during the current month, following a 7.77% slump in April. The latter has been a fourth consecutive monthly loss and also the largest one since July 2017.

For the entire past year, the shares of the NYSE-listed carrier gained 31.32%, following another 15.75% surge in 2016.

The companys capacity increased 1.5% to 13,570,674 available seat miles in April compared to the same month a year earlier, while its year-to-date capacity was 1.7% higher.

Load factor, which reflects how efficiently the airline fills seats and generates fare revenue, went down 150 basis points to 82.5% last month compared to April 2017, while rising 80 basis points year-to-date to 81.8%.

The number of trips flown increased 1.6% year-on-year to 116,365 in April and 1.4% year-to-date to 442,581.

Meanwhile, the airlines average length of haul decreased 2.9% in April from a year ago.

According to CNN Money, the 19 analysts, offering 12-month forecasts regarding Southwest Airlines stock price, have a median target of $69.00, with a high estimate of $85.00 and a low estimate of $61.00. The median estimate is a 31.86% surge compared to the closing price of $52.33 on May 8th.

The same media also reported that 13 out of 21 surveyed investment analysts had rated Southwest Airlines stock as “Buy”, while 4 – as “Hold”.

Daily and Weekly Pivot Levels

With the help of the Camarilla calculation method, today’s levels of importance for Southwest Airlines shares are presented as follows:

R1 – $52.43
R2 – $52.53
R3 (Range Resistance – Sell) – $52.63
R4 (Long Breakout) – $52.93
R5 (Breakout Target 1) – $53.28
R6 (Breakout Target 2) – $53.43

S1 – $52.23
S2 – $52.13
S3 (Range Support – Buy) – $52.03
S4 (Short Breakout) – $51.73
S5 (Breakout Target 1) – $51.38
S6 (Breakout Target 2) – $51.23

By using the traditional method of calculation, the weekly levels of importance for Southwest Airlines Company (LUV) are presented as follows:

Central Pivot Point – $52.71
R1 – $53.85
R2 – $54.91
R3 – $56.05
R4 – $57.18

S1 – $51.65
S2 – $50.51
S3 – $49.45
S4 – $48.38