Southwest Airlines Overview
Latest P/E ratio for Southwest Airlines: 24.33 — see history and peer comparisons.
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The P/E ratio compares a company's stock price to its earnings per share. A lower P/E ratio may indicate that the stock is undervalued.
Southwest Airlines posts a P/E ratio of 24.33. That is above the Consumer Discretionary sector average of 21.97. Comparing that reading with peers and prior periods is usually more useful than looking at the number in isolation.
For Consumer Discretionary stocks, a P/E ratio near 21.97 is typical. Southwest Airlines's 24.33 is higher that level. That is roughly 10.7% above the sector mean. Whether that is a warning or an opportunity depends on growth outlook and other fundamentals shown elsewhere on Stockcircle.
Southwest Airlines's P/E ratio of 24.33 comes from dividing a price-based measure by a related financial statistic. Changes can come from the stock price moving, the underlying fundamental shifting, or both. Track both the level and the trend — a rising multiple on falling fundamentals is a different story than a rising multiple on rising earnings.
Context for LUV's P/E ratio usually means three checks: (1) trend versus prior periods, (2) level versus peers (average 21.97), and (3) consistency with growth and profitability. This page covers the first two; Southwest Airlines's other metric pages and overview cover the third.
Judging Southwest Airlines against Consumer Discretionary peers is usually better than using a market-wide rule of thumb. Business models inside Consumer Discretionary are more comparable, which makes gaps in P/E ratio easier to interpret. Start with 24.33 here, then scan peer and history charts to see if the gap is persistent.
