Company Stock Project Accounting
Company Stock Project Write-Up
Southwest is one of the most growing domestic airlines along with JetBlue Airways and United Airlines. Southwest airline was first established in Texas in 1967. In the start of its business, southwest focused only in the Southwest region (that’s where the name came from). With 45 years of service, Southwest expands its company to the whole country with more than 3,400 flights each day. Southwest currently has a total capital of 10,991 million dollars. In 2011, it generated $15.7 billion dollars of revenue, and $178 millions of income. Southwest consolidated net income of $178 million in 2011 decreased by $281 million compared to its 2010 net income of $459 million. The results of this years’ performance were significantly impacted by high and volatile fuel prices. Jet fuel and oil consumed approximately 38 percent of the Company’s operating expenses, which constituted the largest expense incurred in 2011.
Operating expenses for 2011 increased by $3.8 billion, or 34.6 percent, compared to 2010. The increase in operating expenses was also due to the acquisition of AirTran with an amount of $970 million recorded in goodwill. The additional debt held by the Company in connection with the AirTran acquisition resulted in $26 million additional interest expense for 2011. The majority of the Company’s tangible assets are aircraft, which are long-lived. The Company's goal is to maintain a conservative balance sheet and grow capacity steadily and profitably. While the Company uses financial leverage, it strives to maintain a strong balance sheet and has a “BBB” rating with Fitch, a “BBB-” rating with Standard & Poor’s, and a “Baa3” credit rating with Moody’s as of December 31, 2011, which are considered “investment grade.” The Company’s 1999 and 2004 French Credit Agreements do not give rise to significant fair value risk but do give rise to interest rate risk because these borrowings were originally issued as floating-rate debt. In addition, the Company and AirTran have converted certain of their long-term debt to floating rate debt by entering into interest rate swap agreements. Common Stockholder Short-term Creditor Long-term Creditor Book value: $8.50 Working capital: (188) million Times-interest earned: 1.66 Earnings/share: $0.23 Current ratio: 0.959 Debt-to-equity ratio: 1.63 Price-earning ratio: 36.9 Acid-test ratio: 0.23 Return on C.S equity: 2.7%
Regarding to the return on common stockholder's equity ratio of 47.5%, United provided superior returns for its investors. Southwest has a lower earning per share ratio compared with JetBlue and United. The company's earnings per share had a considerably decrease of $0.38, compared to 2010,which was due to the acquisition of all of the outstanding equity of AirTran. However, since Southwest's price- earning ratio of 38.9 is higher than the other two companies, Southwest can expect higher earning growth in the future.
Southwest's working capital went from 974 million in 2010 to (188) million in 2011, which was primarily caused by an increase in accounts payable and an increase in air traffic liability (Air traffic liability represents tickets sold for future travel dates). JetBlue as well as United also have negative number on working capital. In addition, their current ratio is bellow two, which indicates that all three airlines are not able to pay off their debts. Furthermore, their acid-test ratio is much lower than their current ratio, meaning their currents assets are highly dependent on inventories.
Southwest is one of the most growing domestic airlines along with JetBlue Airways and United Airlines. Southwest airline was first established in Texas in 1967. In the start of its business, southwest focused only in the Southwest region (that’s where the name came from). With 45 years of service, Southwest expands its company to the whole country with more than 3,400 flights each day. Southwest currently has a total capital of 10,991 million dollars. In 2011, it generated $15.7 billion dollars of revenue, and $178 millions of income. Southwest consolidated net income of $178 million in 2011 decreased by $281 million compared to its 2010 net income of $459 million. The results of this years’ performance were significantly impacted by high and volatile fuel prices. Jet fuel and oil consumed approximately 38 percent of the Company’s operating expenses, which constituted the largest expense incurred in 2011.
Operating expenses for 2011 increased by $3.8 billion, or 34.6 percent, compared to 2010. The increase in operating expenses was also due to the acquisition of AirTran with an amount of $970 million recorded in goodwill. The additional debt held by the Company in connection with the AirTran acquisition resulted in $26 million additional interest expense for 2011. The majority of the Company’s tangible assets are aircraft, which are long-lived. The Company's goal is to maintain a conservative balance sheet and grow capacity steadily and profitably. While the Company uses financial leverage, it strives to maintain a strong balance sheet and has a “BBB” rating with Fitch, a “BBB-” rating with Standard & Poor’s, and a “Baa3” credit rating with Moody’s as of December 31, 2011, which are considered “investment grade.” The Company’s 1999 and 2004 French Credit Agreements do not give rise to significant fair value risk but do give rise to interest rate risk because these borrowings were originally issued as floating-rate debt. In addition, the Company and AirTran have converted certain of their long-term debt to floating rate debt by entering into interest rate swap agreements. Common Stockholder Short-term Creditor Long-term Creditor Book value: $8.50 Working capital: (188) million Times-interest earned: 1.66 Earnings/share: $0.23 Current ratio: 0.959 Debt-to-equity ratio: 1.63 Price-earning ratio: 36.9 Acid-test ratio: 0.23 Return on C.S equity: 2.7%
Regarding to the return on common stockholder's equity ratio of 47.5%, United provided superior returns for its investors. Southwest has a lower earning per share ratio compared with JetBlue and United. The company's earnings per share had a considerably decrease of $0.38, compared to 2010,which was due to the acquisition of all of the outstanding equity of AirTran. However, since Southwest's price- earning ratio of 38.9 is higher than the other two companies, Southwest can expect higher earning growth in the future.
Southwest's working capital went from 974 million in 2010 to (188) million in 2011, which was primarily caused by an increase in accounts payable and an increase in air traffic liability (Air traffic liability represents tickets sold for future travel dates). JetBlue as well as United also have negative number on working capital. In addition, their current ratio is bellow two, which indicates that all three airlines are not able to pay off their debts. Furthermore, their acid-test ratio is much lower than their current ratio, meaning their currents assets are highly dependent on inventories.
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With the acquisition of AirTran, Southwest became the holder of $1.1 billion of
debt previously issued by AirTran. Southwest has a times- interest earned ratio
of 1.66, which is below 2, and can’t be considered sufficient to protect its
long-term investors. In the same situation, JetBlue and United with ratios of
1.8 and 1.92 respectively. Regarding to debt-to-equity ratio, Southwest and
JetBlue range from 0.0 to 3.00, which is common. In contrast, United has a
20.03 ratio, which is not a good sign; therefore we can assume that the company
has been aggressive in financing its growth with debt. Overall, Southwest is
not very profitable however, after the crisis in 2008, the stock market became
unstable and risky to invest in. Matt Doiron commented about Southwest in
insidermonkey.com on July 25, 2012 “we aren’t very optimistic about these
stocks in the short-term because these are extremely cyclical stocks and we
haven’t full felt the effects of a global slowdown. We don’t consider these
stocks as “short candidates” but we wouldn’t initiate a position unless they
get 20% cheaper.” Seeing that the stock market of Southwest has increased since
this summer, it is not a good time to invest. * The Southwest’s independent
auditor has audited the financial statements included in the 2011 Form 10-K. *
Burns & McDonnell Engineering Inc. was retained by Southwest Airlines Co.
to verify and provide external assurance that the 2011 Southwest Airlines One
Report.
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