Southwest Airlines Company (LUV) stock falls on Q1 2026 Earnings

Southwest Airlines Company (LUV) reported Q1 2026 total revenue of $7.25 billion (+12.77% year-over-year) and gross profit of $5.06 billion (+15.97% year-over-year).

Cost of sales: $2.19 billion (+6.01% year-over-year)

Operating profit: $330 million (down -247.98% year-over-year)

Net income attributable to common shareholders: $227 million (down -252.35% year-over-year)

Profitability measures fell sharply versus the prior year. Diluted earnings per share came in at 0.45, a decline of -273.08% year-over-year, reflecting the drop in operating profit and net income.

Cash from operating activities: $1.42 billion (+64.88% year-over-year)

Purchases of property, plant and equipment: -$630 million (+25.75% year-over-year)

Cash and cash equivalents: $3.33 billion (down -59.09% year-over-year)

Total liabilities: $22.48 billion (down -5.73% year-over-year)

Results versus expectations and market reaction:

Revenue: $7.25 billion vs. estimate $7.33 billion (miss)

Reported diluted EPS: 0.45 vs. estimate 0.4768 (below estimate)

Shares moved -4.18% since market close following the release.

Note: This financials data is sourced from a third-party provider and has not been independently verified by Quiver.

Southwest Airlines Company Insider Trading Activity

Southwest Airlines Company insiders have traded $LUV stock on the open market 2 times in the past 6 months. Of those trades, 0 have been purchases and 2 have been sales.

Here’s a breakdown of recent trading of $LUV stock by insiders over the last 6 months:

JUSTIN JONES (EVP Operations) sold 8,085 shares for an estimated $302,055
LISA M ATHERTON sold 118 shares for an estimated $4,478

To track insider transactions, check out Quiver Quantitative's insider trading dashboard.

Southwest Airlines Company Hedge Fund Activity

We have seen 357 institutional investors add shares of Southwest Airlines Company stock to their portfolio, and 372 decrease their positions in their most recent quarter.

Here are some of the largest recent moves:

UBS GROUP AG removed 20,816,964 shares (-73.6%) from their portfolio in Q4 2025, for an estimated $860,365,122
ARTISAN PARTNERS LIMITED PARTNERSHIP removed 10,748,649 shares (-100.0%) from their portfolio in Q4 2025, for an estimated $444,241,663
JPMORGAN CHASE & CO removed 6,186,788 shares (-50.6%) from their portfolio in Q4 2025, for an estimated $255,699,948
INTERVAL PARTNERS, LP removed 4,017,235 shares (-100.0%) from their portfolio in Q4 2025, for an estimated $166,032,322
MASSACHUSETTS FINANCIAL SERVICES CO /MA/ added 3,470,852 shares (+inf%) to their portfolio in Q4 2025, for an estimated $143,450,313
NORGES BANK added 2,878,232 shares (+224.1%) to their portfolio in Q4 2025, for an estimated $118,957,328
SUSQUEHANNA INTERNATIONAL GROUP, LLP added 2,788,434 shares (+984.8%) to their portfolio in Q4 2025, for an estimated $115,245,977

To track hedge funds' stock portfolios, check out Quiver Quantitative's institutional holdings dashboard.

Southwest Airlines Company Government Contracts

We have seen $264,619 of award payments to $LUV over the last year.

Here are some of the awards which we have have seen pay out the most over the last year:

IGF:OT:IGF DOMESTIC CHARTER - AIR TRANSPORTATION SERVICES: $82,700
DOMESTIC CHARTER - AIR TRANSPORTATION SERVICES: $79,500
DOMESTIC CHARTER - AIR TRANSPORTATION SERVICES: $33,419
CIVIL RESERVE AIR FLEET - AIR TRANSPORTATION SERVICES: $3,000

To track government contracts to publicy traded companies, check out Quiver Quantitative's government contracts dashboard.

Southwest Airlines Company Analyst Ratings

Wall Street analysts have issued reports on $LUV in the last several months. We have seen 3 firms issue buy ratings on the stock, and 1 firms issue sell ratings.

Here are some recent analyst ratings:

Morgan Stanley issued a "Overweight" rating on 01/30/2026
B of A Securities issued a "Underperform" rating on 01/30/2026
BMO Capital issued a "Outperform" rating on 01/30/2026
JP Morgan issued a "Overweight" rating on 01/09/2026

To track analyst ratings and price targets for Southwest Airlines Company, check out Quiver Quantitative's $LUV forecast page.

Southwest Airlines Company Price Targets

Multiple analysts have issued price targets for $LUV recently. We have seen 16 analysts offer price targets for $LUV in the last 6 months, with a median target of $44.0.

Here are some recent targets:

Sergey Glinyanov from Freedom Broker set a target price of $41.0 on 03/26/2026
Atul Maheswari from UBS set a target price of $56.0 on 03/23/2026
John Godyn from Citigroup set a target price of $44.0 on 03/20/2026
Christian Wetherbee from Wells Fargo set a target price of $44.0 on 03/16/2026
Duane Pfennigwerth from Evercore ISI Group set a target price of $43.0 on 03/12/2026
Sheila Kahyaoglu from Jefferies set a target price of $41.0 on 03/12/2026
Tom Fitzgerald from TD Cowen set a target price of $55.0 on 03/09/2026