SAVE - JetBlue continues to trade sideways with Spirit merger hanging in the balance
2023-05-16 15:16:44 ET
JetBlue Airways Corporation ( NASDAQ: JBLU ) swung 1.01% in afternoon trading on Tuesday and is now flat for the last six weeks as investors fret over the airline stock's exposure to discretionary leisure travel and implications of the $3.8B planned merger with Spirit Airlines ( SAVE ).
A recent controversy with JetBlue ( JBLU ) involves the flood of pro-merger comments that flooded the Department of Transportation's open comment system. 90% of the comments were identical, despite purportedly being from different JetBlue or Spirit employees. Some of those employees identified by name deny ever submitting a form to the DOT.
On Wall Street, Bank of America thinks JetBlue ( JBLU ) has done a good job executing on costs recently with unit costs ex-fuel expected to increase just 1.5% to 3.5% in Q1. The firm kept a Neutral rating on the airline stock and price objective of $9 due to the proposed Spirit Airlines merger overhang.
Seeking Alpha analyst Tim Dunn said JetBlue Airways exceeded analyst expectations with its Q1 earnings report off success with current operational and strategic initiatives. However, Dunn has a Hold rating on JetBlue due to the
Shares of JetBlue Airways ( JBLU ) are up 5.63% year-to-date vs. the +2.87% return of the Dow Jones U.S. Airlines Index.
More on JetBlue Airways:
- JetBlue And Spirit Merger Has A Chance
- More articles from Seeking Alpha analysts
- Growth metrics for JetBlue
- Relative strength index and moving averages
- Seeking Alpha's Quant Rating for JetBlue
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JetBlue continues to trade sideways with Spirit merger hanging in the balance