Ray Neidl raises his rating on AirTran

[Max Powers]

There are a lot of shell games that can be played, as CitationLover's pointed out.
I am suspicious of the press release since their figures included long term investments, so we can't really say for certain how much their cash position has changed.. There's nothing liquid about long term investments.

Another way to get cash is to take out a loan against some of your assets, so you've really got to wait until the 10K, or in this quarter's case, the 10Q to say be able to say where the cash came from.

And profitibility isn't the big issue with airlines right now; it's a secondary concern. It's all about cash on hand.

One of the reasons why I'm concerned about Airtran is that they are continuing to take aircraft deliveries. That costs money. While their cash position's OK, it can be burned through very quickly if you take delivery of a few aircraft. I'd have a better feeling about them if they were staying flat or shrinking their fleet plan.
Right now, there are several airlines betting that the recession is going to be short and shallow. With looking at the worldwide credit problems, that seems unlikely.

Dude your an idiot. I read all your posts and you don't know the first thing about investing. jm2c

 

[PCL_128]

I wouldn't say he's an idiot, but he's definitely a paranoid alarmist. He's basically predicting economic armageddon for the entire country. Things aren't great in the economy, but they aren't as bad as he's portraying them, and AAI is certainly not in as bad a shape as he would have people believe.

 

[Jonny Sacko]

No, no no
You of all people know the guy hasn't been screaming the death of Airtran. If he reads something so technical, and makes a mistake, so be it, but he's definitely;y not an idiot. You should edit that. /All of this stuff is that whole cloak and dagger crap, I didn't even know existed. I bet lots of us didn't. I'll step out only after saying Ray Neidl IS an idiot, crying Armageddon!

 

[bravodude]

Not even Warren Buffett was successful in airline investing. If he can't do it, I don't dare try it.

I guess all of the SWA pilots that made millions with stock options were not successful in airline investing

 

[PCL_128]

Umm, yeah, if you're given options, then that makes it a little easier to make money. Not exactly the same thing.

 

[jonjuan]

Umm, yeah, if you're given options, then that makes it a little easier to make money.

How do having options make it easier to make money?

 

[PCL_128]

Because you don't have to buy them! They were awarded to them as part of their compensation package. When you have zero up front cost, it's pretty easy to make money.

 

[FIREMAN]

Umm, yeah, if you're given options, then that makes it a little easier to make money. Not exactly the same thing.

You mean stock grants.

 

[Ty Webb]

Let's not lose sight of the most important elements of this discussion, gentlemen-

1) Although the future is uncertain for the pilots and employees of most carriers today-

A) AirTran was maligned in the market on Friday, unless there is something afoot that we are not yet aware of, and

B) Investing in airline stocks is probably a bad idea

C) The more solidarity we, as pilots, can demonstrate across the board, the better off we will all be,

 

[PCL_128]

You mean stock grants.

Correct. I believe SWA pilots that did well with their options received them as grants.