UPS, Boeing: Secrets of the Transport Winners

ATLANTA (TheStreet) -- The recovery may be a hesitant one, but that has not kept well-positioned transport companies and their investors from benefitting. In this busy week of earnings reports, two airlines, JetBlue JBLU and US Airways LCC, saw their shares rise 9% from Monday through Thursday, leading the sector. The S&P Index rose 2% during the period. Meanwhile, a strong first-quarter report by UPS UPS helped to fuel the stock market's big gain on Thursday. Shares in the biggest overnight package company were up 5% Monday through Thursday. Another winner was Boeing BA, helped by a week of strong sales announcements at the Farnborough Air Show. Its shares rose 6% Monday through Thursday. We liked Boeing at $63 and still like it. Boeing is the 2010 Dow leader: its shares are up 23% this year, while the index is down 1%. It will report earnings Wednesday. What do the winners share? Besides beating estimates, they also made it clear that the future is bright: UPS and JetBlue both raised guidance, while Boeing benefitted not only from Farnborough announcements but also from strong results posted by the airlines, its customers. To read the rest, head over to TheStreet.com