JPMorgan Raises Price Target For Frontier Group, Southwest, Alaska Air; Downgrades Spirit Airlines

JPMorgan analyst Jamie Baker upgraded Frontier Group Holdings Inc ULCC to Overweight from Neutral and raised the price target to $22 (implying an upside of 32%), from $20.
Southwest Airlines Co LUV upgraded to Overweight from Neutral and raised the price target to $70 (implying an upside of 30%) from $64.
The analyst says his new target for Southwest and Frontier implies sufficient upside potential for an upgrade.
Baker maintained an Overweight rating on Alaska Air Group, Inc ALK and raised the price target to $97 (implying an upside of 58%) from $94.
Baker believes the current equity rally in for U.S. airlines "has room to run," in part given "encouraging" Chase travel spend data, the recent planned relaxation of U.S. borders, and equity values that "remain significantly below their vernal highs."
Meanwhile, Baker downgraded Spirit Airlines Inc SAVE to Neutral from Overweight and lowered the price target to $34 (implying an upside of 27%) from $43.
Given a weaker earnings forecast, Baker's new price target is lower than during 2021, which leads him to reduce his rating on Spirit Airlines.
Baker's autumnal exercise of pushing price targets forward by a year yielded three rating changes in the airlines' sector.
Price Action: ULCC shares are trading higher by 6.14% at $16.76, and LUV is up by 5.00% at $53.96. ALK is up by 5.07% at $61.44, and SAVE shares traded higher by 3.32% at $26.8 on the last check Friday.

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