INTELLECTUAL STOCK INVESTOR

[mick]

+++++/ PART ONE/ Why JetBlue Could be the Next Tesla
Jeff Siegel Photo By Jeff Siegel
Written Tuesday, April 11, 2017
http://www.energyandcapital.com/articles/investing-in-electric-airplanes/5795

After the global economy came to a crashing halt in 2008, I started cherry-picking stocks that I knew wouldn’t be kept down long.

GE (NYSE: GE), Whole Foods (NASDAQ: WFM), and Southwest Airlines (NYSE: LUV) were among the biggest winners for me. The latter was one I actually felt a little nervous about, though. After all, airline stocks can be particularly risky.

But in the case of Southwest, I knew it was a solid play in the industry. Despite the various hills and valleys along the way, Southwest has always maintained a business model that just works. Zero pretentiousness, cheap fares, and excellent customer service.

Over the years, I’ve watched so many other airlines struggle, implementing new fees and running all kinds of lame gimmicks. Yet rarely do they improve profitability.

Now, one thing the airline industry does have going for it at the moment is low oil prices. High fuel costs can absolutely crush margins, so the respite from high oil prices over the past couple of years has offered some much-needed breathing room. And this will likely continue for the next year or two.

But at some point, those prices are going to creep back up. So it should come as no surprise that some airlines are looking for new ways to implement a better hedge against the inevitable.