5 Best Airline Stocks to Buy for 2021

2. Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE: DAL)

As of the end of the third quarter, 43 hedge funds in our database collectively held $753.2 million worth of stakes in Delta, up from 39 hedge funds with a combined stake of $864.78 million in the second quarter. Paul Reeder and Edward Shapiro’s PAR Capital Management is the biggest shareholder in Delta, with 7.64 million shares worth $265.43 million.

Deutsche Bank recently downgraded Delta, among several other airline stocks, to Hold, citing COVID-19 crisis. Earlier in December, Delta asked its employees to take more unpaid leaves as the company tries to offset huge losses amid the travel slump caused by the coronavirus. Here is what Miller Value Partners said about DAL in its Q2 investor letter:

“Delta Air Lines Inc. (DAL) declined -1.38% over the period after the initial hit to the stock in 1Q following the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. The company reported 1Q results with EPS of -$0.51, in-line with consensus. The company guided for June revenue to be down 90% YoY and announced another $1B cut to capital expenditures (CAPEX) for a total cut of $3B so far this year. The company ended the quarter with $6B in liquidity and they expect to end the June quarter with $10B in liquidity. Delta held its annual shareholders’ meeting where it noted that it expects to finish the 2nd quarter with over $15B in liquidity with a daily cash burn of $30M getting to breakeven by the end of the year.”