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Southwest Airlines Co (Southwest Airlines Co) Altman Z-Score

: 1.88 (As of Today)
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The Altman Z-Score is a model designed to predict the likelihood of a company going bankrupt within the next two years. Created by American finance professor Edward Altman in 1968, the model is specifically designed for publicly traded manufacturing companies with assets greater than $1 million.

Warning Sign:

Altman Z-score of 1.87 is in the grey area. This implies that the company is under some kind of financial stress. If it is below 1.8, the company may face bankruptcy risk.

Southwest Airlines Co has a Altman Z-Score of 1.88, indicating it is in Grey Zones. This implies that Southwest Airlines Co is in some kind of financial stress. If it is below 1.81, the company may face bankrupcy risk.

The zones of discrimination were as such:

When Altman Z-Score <= 1.8, it is in Distress Zones.
When Altman Z-Score >= 3, it is in Safe Zones.
When Altman Z-Score is between 1.8 and 3, it is in Grey Zones.

The historical rank and industry rank for Southwest Airlines Co's Altman Z-Score or its related term are showing as below:

LUV' s Altman Z-Score Range Over the Past 10 Years
Min: 1.39   Med: 2.95   Max: 3.45
Current: 1.87

During the past 13 years, Southwest Airlines Co's highest Altman Z-Score was 3.45. The lowest was 1.39. And the median was 2.95.


Southwest Airlines Co Altman Z-Score Historical Data

The historical data trend for Southwest Airlines Co's Altman Z-Score can be seen below:

* For Operating Data section: All numbers are indicated by the unit behind each term and all currency related amount are in USD.
* For other sections: All numbers are in millions except for per share data, ratio, and percentage. All currency related amount are indicated in the company's associated stock exchange currency.

* Premium members only.

Southwest Airlines Co Annual Data
Trend Dec14 Dec15 Dec16 Dec17 Dec18 Dec19 Dec20 Dec21 Dec22 Dec23
Altman Z-Score
Premium Member Only Premium Member Only Premium Member Only Premium Member Only Premium Member Only 3.13 1.39 2.08 2.05 1.87

Southwest Airlines Co Quarterly Data
Mar19 Jun19 Sep19 Dec19 Mar20 Jun20 Sep20 Dec20 Mar21 Jun21 Sep21 Dec21 Mar22 Jun22 Sep22 Dec22 Mar23 Jun23 Sep23 Dec23
Altman Z-Score Premium Member Only Premium Member Only Premium Member Only Premium Member Only Premium Member Only Premium Member Only Premium Member Only Premium Member Only Premium Member Only Premium Member Only Premium Member Only Premium Member Only Premium Member Only Premium Member Only Premium Member Only 2.05 2.00 2.01 1.85 1.87

Competitive Comparison

For the Airlines subindustry, Southwest Airlines Co's Altman Z-Score, along with its competitors' market caps and Altman Z-Score data, can be viewed below:

* Competitive companies are chosen from companies within the same industry, with headquarter located in same country, with closest market capitalization; x-axis shows the market cap, and y-axis shows the term value; the bigger the dot, the larger the market cap. Note that "N/A" values will not show up in the chart.


Southwest Airlines Co Altman Z-Score Distribution

For the Transportation industry and Industrials sector, Southwest Airlines Co's Altman Z-Score distribution charts can be found below:

* The bar in red indicates where Southwest Airlines Co's Altman Z-Score falls into.



Southwest Airlines Co Altman Z-Score Calculation

Altman Z-Score model is an accurate forecaster of failure up to two years prior to distress. It can be considered the assessment of the distress of industrial corporations.

Southwest Airlines Co's Altman Z-Score for today is calculated with this formula:

Z=1.2*X1+1.4*X2+3.3*X3+0.6*X4+1.0*X5
=1.2*0.0466+1.4*0.4467+3.3*0.0238+0.6*0.6694+1.0*0.7151
=1.88

* For Operating Data section: All numbers are indicated by the unit behind each term and all currency related amount are in USD.
* For other sections: All numbers are in millions except for per share data, ratio, and percentage. All currency related amount are indicated in the company's associated stock exchange currency. GuruFocus does not calculate Altman Z-Score when X4 or X5 value is 0.

Trailing Twelve Months (TTM) ended in Dec. 2023:
Total Assets was $36,487 Mil.
Total Current Assets was $13,955 Mil.
Total Current Liabilities was $12,256 Mil.
Retained Earnings was $16,297 Mil.
Pre-Tax Income was -286 + 237 + 886 + -205 = $632 Mil.
Interest Expense was -58 + -59 + -60 + -60 = $-237 Mil.
Revenue was 6823 + 6525 + 7037 + 5706 = $26,091 Mil.
Market Cap (Today) was $17,385 Mil.
Total Liabilities was $25,972 Mil.

* Note that for stock reported semi-annually or annually, GuruFocus uses latest annual data as the TTM data.

X1=Working Capital/Total Assets
=(Total Current Assets - Total Current Liabilities)/Total Assets
=(13955 - 12256)/36487
=0.0466

X2=Retained Earnings/Total Assets
=16297/36487
=0.4467

X3=Earnings Before Interest and Taxes/Total Assets
=(Pre-Tax Income - Interest Expense)/Total Assets
=(632 - -237)/36487
=0.0238

X4=Market Value Equity/Book Value of Total Liabilities
=Market Cap/Total Liabilities
=17385.302/25972
=0.6694

X5=Revenue/Total Assets
=26091/36487
=0.7151

The zones of discrimination were as such:

Distress Zones - 1.81 < Grey Zones < 2.99 - Safe Zones

Southwest Airlines Co has a Altman Z-Score of 1.88 indicating it is in Grey Zones.

Study by Altman found that companies that are in Distress Zone have more than 80% of chances of bankruptcy in two years.


Southwest Airlines Co  (NYSE:LUV) Altman Z-Score Explanation

X1: The Working Capital/Total Assets (WC/TA) ratio is a measure of the net liquid assets of the firm relative to the total capitalization. Working capital is defined as the difference between current assets and current liabilities. Ordinarily, a firm experiencing consistent operating losses will have shrinking current assets in relation to total assets. Altman found this one proved to be the most valuable liquidity ratio comparing with the current ratio and the quick ratio. This is however the least significant of the five factors.

X2: Retained Earnings/Total Assets: the RE/TA ratio measures the leverage of a firm. Retained earnings is the account which reports the total amount of reinvested earnings and/or losses of a firm over its entire life. Those firms with high RE, relative to TA, have financed their assets through retention of profits and have not utilized as much debt.

X3, Earnings Before Interest and Taxes/Total Assets (EBIT/TA): This ratio is a measure of the true productivity of the firm's assets, independent of any tax or leverage factors. Since a firm's ultimate existence is based on the earning power of its assets, this ratio appears to be particularly appropriate for studies dealing with corporate failure. This ratio continually outperforms other profitability measures, including cash flow.

X4, Market Value of Equity/Book Value of Total Liabilities (MVE/TL): The measure shows how much the firm's assets can decline in value (measured by market value of equity plus debt) before the liabilities exceed the assets and the firm becomes insolvent.

X5, Revenue/Total Assets (S/TA): The capital-turnover ratio is a standard financial ratio illustrating the sales generating ability of the firm's assets.

Read more about Altman Z-Score and the original research.


Be Aware

Altman Z-Score does not apply to financial companies.


Southwest Airlines Co Altman Z-Score Related Terms

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Southwest Airlines Co (Southwest Airlines Co) Business Description

Address
P.O. Box 36611, Dallas, TX, USA, 75235-1611
Southwest Airlines is the largest domestic air carrier in the United States by passengers boarded. Southwest operates over 700 aircraft in an all-Boeing 737 fleet. Despite offering some longer routes and a few perks for business travelers, the airline predominantly specializes in short-haul, leisure flights, using a point-to-point network. Southwest operates a low-cost carrier business model.
Executives
Roy Blunt director 2702 LOVE FIELD DRIVE, HDQ 4GC, DALLAS TX 75235
Elaine Mendoza director 2223 POSTOAK COURT, SAN ANTONIO TX 78248
Eduardo F Conrado director 1303 E. ALGONQUIN ROAD, SCHAUMBURG IL 60196
Ryan C. Green officer: EVP, Chief Commercial Officer 2702 LOVE FIELD DRIVE, HDQ 4GC, DALLAS TX 75235
Jill A. Soltau director 123 SOUTH FRONT STREET, MEMPHIS TN 38103
John T Montford director C/O SOUTHWEST AIRLINES CO, 2702 LOVE FIELD DR PO BOX 36611, DALLAS TX 75235-1611
Christopher P. Reynolds director 2702 LOVE FIELD DRIVE, HDQ 4GC, DALLAS TX 75235
David P Hess director 390 PARK AVENUE, NEW YORK NY 10022
Thomas W. Gilligan director C/O KB HOME, 10990 WILSHIRE BOULEVARD, 7TH FLOOR, LOS ANGELES CA 90024
Linda B. Rutherford officer: EVP People and Communications 2702 LOVE FIELD DRIVE, HDQ 4GC, DALLAS TX 75235
Robert E Jordan officer: EVP - Strategy and Planning C/O SOUTHWEST AIRLINES CO., 2702 LOVE FIELD DRIVE, DALLAS TX 75235
Gregory D Wells officer: EVP, Daily Operations 2702 LOVE FIELD DRIVE, HDQ 4GC, DALLAS TX 75235
Alan Kasher officer: EVP Daily Operations 2702 LOVE FIELD DRIVE, HDQ 4GC, DALLAS TX 75235
Mark R Shaw officer: SVP,Gen Counsel,Corp.Secretary 2702 LOVE FIELD DRIVE, HDQ 4GC, DALLAS TX 75235
Tammy Romo officer: SR VP Finance & CFO C/O SOUTHWEST AIRINES CO., 2702 LOVE FIELD DR., DALLAS TX 75235

Southwest Airlines Co (Southwest Airlines Co) Headlines