5 Blue-Chip Stocks Ready for Buyers

Southwest Air

2003 Sales: $5.9 billion

2012 Sales: $15.7 billion

2003 EPS: 54 cents

2011 EPS: 43 cents

Southwest Air (LUV) was a mere upstart when the dot-com boom was in full swing. These days, its route network -- and sales base -- are far more expansive, but profits have recently lagged. Earnings per share in 2011 were actually about 20% lower in 2011 than they were back in 2003, in large part because jet fuel prices are now so much higher.

Yet analysts spy a profit rebound, anticipating EPS to rise to 75 cents this year and around $1 in 2013. Stable fuel prices and fuller planes get the credit for the profit pick-up.

Shares, which routinely traded hands in the $15 to $20 in the first half of the last decade, are now under $9, implying a quite low forward multiple.

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