US Airways Leads Airline Stocks Lower
PHOENIX (
) --
US Airways
(LCC)
led airline shares down Monday, falling 3.6%, possibly in reaction to its lack of fuel price hedges.
The
AMEX Airlines Index
(XAL)
was down about 1%. Among legacy carriers,
American
(AMR)
fell 1.6%,
Delta
(DAL) - Get Report
slipped 0.56% and
United
(UAL) - Get Report
was off 2.3%.
JetBlue
(JBLU) - Get Report
and
Southwest
(LUV) - Get Report
rose marginally.
Stifel Nicolaus analyst Hunter Keay noted that US Airways, unlike its peers, has followed a policy of not hedging fuel costs. "It's tempting to attribute
the decline in the stock to oil due to their lack of hedges," Keay said. "With crude up today and US Airways' underperformance relative to the group, it's a logical conclusion."
Despite falling back on Monday, US Airways shares are up 133% for the year, leading the airline industry. United is second at 117%.
-- Written by Ted Reed in Charlotte, N.C.
>To contact the writer of this article, click here:
Ted Reed
