- Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) is up 1.65% in early trading to lead the airline sector after landing a two-notch upgrade from Goldman Sachs.
- "We now expect traffic for the carriers in our coverage universe to recover to 2019 levels in 2023 as opposed to 2022," updates GS analyst Catherine O’Brien.
- "We expect its primarily domestic network and industry-leading balance sheet to drive a relatively faster and stronger recovery from the COVID-19-driven downturn in demand for air travel," she adds.
- Goldman Sachs lifts LUV all the way to a Buy rating after having it slotted at Sell and assigns a new price target of $47.
- Southwest is started to separate itself from peers on a share price comparison.