Don't ask me why so many people hold airline stocks. Of course there is money to be made in trading, but I am not a trader. And yes, historically Southwest Airlines (NYSE: LUV) has been a good long term hold, but it is still a lousy business. Southwest reported higher profits beating analysts estimates (who cares) by a penny. The stock is still trading down 30 cents as I write to $14.26 from yesterday's close of $14.56.

I do not see them sharing the LUV with its paltry dividend, equally poor ROE of 7.6 and too much debt. Airlines are capital intensive and highly regulated. They are very susceptible to the weather, politics, fuel prices, war and terrorism threats, strikes and competition.

Continental Airlines (NYSE: CAL) reported a 2% increase in profits today and its stock is down too. So what if airlines are reporting increased profits, they all suffer from the same problems and if they manage to squeeze a little profit out of the company lately, it's because they are coming off such lows that the comparisons should be easy to beat. Also there are so many complexities to the airline business that the financial statements are works of art understood by only those with an intimate working knowledge of the business. Continental pays no dividend and has mammoth 5 to 1 debt: LT Debt-to-Common Equity (LFY) = 501.79.

Continue reading Profits up at Southwest, Continental but AMR Corp. is smarter

Profits up at Southwest, Continental but AMR Corp. is smarter originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 18 Oct 2007 13:33:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

After all the posts about The Home Depot (NYSE: HD) and seeing so many comments about the condition of the stores, customer dissatisfaction and low employee morale, I started thinking about what management needs to do to turn things around. What would I do in this state of affairs? Only one thing came to mind. Leave the ivory towers and spend time in the stores. Not visiting, not inspecting, not for pep talks -- actually go to the stores and stock some shelves! Spend some time helping customers find what they need. Work at the customer returns counter. Work at the checkout counters. Help customers to their cars. Brown bag lunch with employees.

The Home Depot directors, officers, and senior managers need to actually return to the days of the owner getting his hands dirty. It's time to role up the sleeves and lead by example. No more reading reports to find out how things are going or visiting three stores in a day that have been prepped for your arrival. At this point, management needs to actually jump into the trenches with the troops and see the world from their perspective.

This is how Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ: COST) Starbucks (NASDAQ: SBUX) and Southwest Airlines (NYSE: LUV) grew strong, just to name a few. The leaders know from first hand experience what needs to be done because they have been there alongside employees and customers making sure they understood what it takes to build a successful enterprise and keep it that way. You cannot manage what you do not understand. When ex-CEO Nardelli left The Home Depot in January, he could have won a trophy for being the CEO most out of touch with customers, employees and shareholders on planet Earth. They could have used his likeness to craft the trophy itself.

I write this to remind management that there is no time like the present -- the time is NOW. Get to work -- real work! Then you will be able to turn the ship around. If not, you'll just leave a bigger mess for somebody else to clean up. Did I hear someone shout "spill on Aisle 3?!"

Those of you who are new to BloggingStocks can check out my other stories and read Chasing Value or Serious Money to find more potential opportunities and verify my track record as well. Disclosure: I own shares in SBUX, as of this writing.

Sheldon Liber is the CEO of a small private investment company and the vice president for design and research at an architecture & planning firm.Check out his other posts for BloggingStocks here.

Home Depot management should stock shelves & help some customers originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 13 Jun 2007 16:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.