Why American Airlines (AAL) Stock Is Seeing Blue Skies Tuesday

American Airlines Group Inc AAL shares are soaring Tuesday afternoon, part of a broader rally among airline carriers.

What To Know: The surge followed the release of July’s inflation data, which brought welcome news for the sector. Investors were buoyed by a significant drop in gasoline prices, a major operating expense for airlines, which fell 1.5% during the month.

Simultaneously, airline ticket prices jumped by a healthy 4.1%, signaling robust demand and increased revenue potential for carriers like American. This combination of lower costs and higher fares creates a favorable environment for improved profit margins.

The positive economic data provided a significant lift for American Airlines, whose stock has recently been trading near its 52-week low. The company last month reported better-than-expected second-quarter earnings of 95 cents per share, beating analyst consensus, but had projected a weaker third-quarter.

The rally was felt across the industry, with the US Global Jets ETF JETS, a key barometer for the airline sector, climbing over 6%.

The favorable inflation numbers, coupled with a strong overall market that saw the S&P 500 and Nasdaq-100 reach new highs, has put major airline stocks, and American Airlines in particular, on a strong upward trajectory for the day.

Benzinga Edge Rankings: According to Benzinga Edge proprietary stock rankings, American Airlines shows a mixed but generally weak fundamental profile. The stock’s Momentum score is a low 29.48, reflecting its poor price performance leading up to today’s rally.

Its scores for Growth at 48.75 and Value at 44.89 are both in the middle of the range, suggesting that on these metrics, the company is neither outperforming nor significantly underperforming its peers.

Overall, this data paints a picture of a stock that has been struggling with price momentum and shows average fundamentals, providing a broader context for its sharp single-day rally.

Price Action: According to data from Benzinga Pro, AAL shares are trading higher by 11.01% to $12.86 Tuesday afternoon. The stock has a 52-week high of $19.10 and a 52-week low of $8.50.

Read Also: July Inflation Brings A Mixed Bag As Tariff Impact Remains Muted

How To Buy AAL Stock

By now you're likely curious about how to participate in the market for American Airlines Group – be it to purchase shares, or even attempt to bet against the company.

Buying shares is typically done through a brokerage account. You can find a list of possible trading platforms here. Many will allow you to buy “fractional shares,” which allows you to own portions of stock without buying an entire share.

If you're looking to bet against a company, the process is more complex. You'll need access to an options trading platform, or a broker who will allow you to “go short” a share of stock by lending you the shares to sell. The process of shorting a stock can be found at this resource. Otherwise, if your broker allows you to trade options, you can either buy a put option, or sell a call option at a strike price above where shares are currently trading – either way it allows you to profit off of the share price decline.

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