Airline Winner & Losers: Alaska Air Group

Updated from 3:59 p.m. ET

Southwest Airlines (LUV Quote) hit a new year-low Friday as other airline stocks fell by double-digit percentages, amid a lower broader market and rising oil prices.

Analysts also digested a slew of airline earnings reports from a day earlier, including fourth-quarter results from Continental Airlines (CAL Quote), US Airways Group (LCC Quote), JetBlue Airways (JBLU Quote) and Alaska Air Group (ALK Quote).

Calyon Securities analyst Ray Neidl suggested that US Airways is one of the riskiest stocks to own in the group because of its relatively small group of markets in the U.S. However, he maintained his $15 price target and "Outperform" rating on the stock.

Neidl trimmed his price target for JetBlue to $4 from $5, noting that growth should stall this year as demand remains sluggish. He heralded Alaska as one of the best picks among carriers, citing its "safer" fuel hedging program and "Solid" balance sheet. He maintained his Outperform rating.

He also kept an Outperform rating on Continental, while raising his price target to $40 from $34.

Also Friday, a Barclay's analyst trimmed price targets for Continental from to $35 from $36.50, for US Airways to $21 from $23 and for JetBlue to $14.50 from $16.

In afternoon trading, light, sweet crude for March delivery rose 3 cents to $41.47 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, while the broader market fell about 100 points.

Southwest shares lost 22 cents, or 3%, to $7.03, after hitting a new 12-month low of $6.97 earlier.

Continental gave up $1.04, or 7.2%, to $13.47. US Airways retreated 80 cents, or 12.4%, to $5.67.

Alaska Air Group lost $1.20, or 4.4%, to $26.36 and JetBlue fell 75 cents, or 11.8%, to $5.63.