NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Shares of Southwest Airlines Co. (LUV) - Get Report are higher by 1.93% to $45.37 in early afternoon trading on Monday, following last week's release of the company's February 2015 traffic results, which showed an increase when compared to February 2014.

Last month Southwest said it flew 7.6 billion revenue passenger miles, a 6% increase from the same month last year.

Available seat miles grew by 3.6% to 9.5 billion in February 2015.

Load factor for the month was 78.9% versus the 78.1% from February of last year.

Southwest said its passenger revenue per ASM is estimated to have grown by 1% over the same period a year ago.

Additionally, the airline stock, and others in its sector, may also be getting a boost today from the decline in oil prices. Fuel is usually an airline's largest expense.

Separately, TheStreet Ratings team rates SOUTHWEST AIRLINES as a Buy with a ratings score of A+. TheStreet Ratings Team has this to say about their recommendation:

"We rate SOUTHWEST AIRLINES (LUV) a BUY. This is based on the convergence of positive investment measures, which should help this stock outperform the majority of stocks that we rate. The company's strengths can be seen in multiple areas, such as its solid stock price performance, revenue growth, largely solid financial position with reasonable debt levels by most measures and notable return on equity. We feel these strengths outweigh the fact that the company shows weak operating cash flow."

Highlights from the analysis by TheStreet Ratings Team goes as follows:

• LUV's revenue growth trails the industry average of 21.6%. Since the same quarter one year prior, revenues slightly increased by 4.5%. This growth in revenue does not appear to have trickled down to the company's bottom line, displayed by a decline in earnings per share.
• Compared to its closing price of one year ago, LUV's share price has jumped by 88.15%, exceeding the performance of the broader market during that same time frame. Turning to the future, naturally, any stock can fall in a major bear market. However, in almost any other environment, the stock should continue to move higher despite the fact that it has already enjoyed nice gains in the past year.
• SOUTHWEST AIRLINES's earnings per share declined by 6.7% in the most recent quarter compared to the same quarter a year ago. This company has reported somewhat volatile earnings recently. But, we feel it is poised for EPS growth in the coming year. During the past fiscal year, SOUTHWEST AIRLINES increased its bottom line by earning $1.65 versus $1.06 in the prior year. This year, the market expects an improvement in earnings ($3.50 versus $1.65).
• The current debt-to-equity ratio, 0.40, is low and is below the industry average, implying that there has been successful management of debt levels. Despite the fact that LUV's debt-to-equity ratio is low, the quick ratio, which is currently 0.57, displays a potential problem in covering short-term cash needs.
• Current return on equity exceeded its ROE from the same quarter one year prior. This is a clear sign of strength within the company. Compared to other companies in the Airlines industry and the overall market on the basis of return on equity, SOUTHWEST AIRLINES has underperformed in comparison with the industry average, but has exceeded that of the S&P 500.
• You can view the full analysis from the report here: LUV Ratings Report