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ValueScreener company report

Southwest Airlines Co. (LUV)

NYSE / Industrials / Airlines, Airports & Air Services

Share price

40.83 USD Market dataClose of Oct 15, 2026

Market capitalisation

19.97B USD Market dataClose of Oct 15, 2026
Market data
Oct 15, 2026
Filed accounts
FY2025, filed Feb 5, 2026
Ratios computed
Oct 15, 2026
Filed years
10, FY2016 to FY2025
Four kinds of sourceSEC filingCompany statementMarket dataComputedWhat each means
SEC filingFiled with the SEC
Read from a statement the company filed with the SEC, with the form, fiscal year, filing date and accession beside it.
Company statementCompany statement
What the company says about itself in a filing: an 8-K item, the auditor, its own segment names.
Market dataMarket data
Prices, market value and what analysts publish, with the date they are as of.
ComputedComputed by ValueScreener
Worked out by us from the other three, with the inputs and the formula one press away. A score is a research output, not a rating or a recommendation.
Reading

1 of 10

Overview

What the business is, what it costs, and how it reads on four questions.

Market dataSEC filingComputed

Four questions, at a glance

Quality

Return on invested capital, after tax

3.1% Computed

From the FY2025 filing

Read quality

Valuation

Price to earnings

49.79x Computed

FY2025 accounts, priced at the latest close

Read valuation

Cash generation

Free cash flow yield

-3.6% Computed

FY2025 accounts, priced at the latest close

Read cash generation

Revenue and net income, as filed

FY2016 Revenue: 20.43B USDFY2016 Net income: 2.18B USDFY2017 Revenue: 21.17B USDFY2017 Net income: 3.36B USDFY2018 Revenue: 21.96B USDFY2018 Net income: 2.46B USDFY2019 Revenue: 22.43B USDFY2019 Net income: 2.30B USDFY2020 Revenue: 9.05B USDFY2020 Net income: -3.07B USDFY2021 Revenue: 15.79B USDFY2021 Net income: 977.0M USDFY2022 Revenue: 23.81B USDFY2022 Net income: 539.0M USDFY2023 Revenue: 26.09B USDFY2023 Net income: 465.0M USDFY2024 Revenue: 27.48B USDFY2024 Net income: 465.0M USDFY2025 Revenue: 28.06B USDFY2025 Net income: 441.0M USD
Revenue Net income10 filed fiscal years, from the annual reports; the table in Filings names each document.
Named tests met
0 of 30 Which tests
The business, and the score behind its five axes

The reading, in brief

Is it cheap

Price to earnings is 49.79x at the close of 2026-10-15 on FY2025 figures; the lines are 15.00x (Graham's defensive ceiling) and, by market convention, 10.00x, 25.00x and 40.00x, and this sits above the highest.

Today, against the Industrials sector (412 companies), 49.79x sits at the 83rd percentile; the middle half of that group runs from 15.04x to 38.40x.

Is it good

Return on invested capital was 3.1% in FY2025, in the band labelled "Likely below the cost of capital" (below 8.0%), on lines anchored on Damodaran's cost-of-capital data, suggesting returns below the usual cost of the capital employed.

Today, against the Industrials sector (316 companies), 3.1% sits at the 24th percentile; the middle half of that group runs from 3.4% to 15.3%.

Is it safe

Interest coverage was 2.56x in FY2025, in the band labelled "Speculative grade" (1.50x to 3.00x), on lines anchored on Damodaran's interest-coverage table.

Year by year against peers
Whether Southwest Airlines Co.'s return on invested capital stayed above the median of the Industrials sector, year by year. (FY2022 to FY2025, 4 fiscal years of Southwest Airlines Co. with a comparable figure)
The direction
Which way Southwest Airlines Co.'s return on equity has moved, and how steadily. (FY2016 to FY2025, 10 filed years of Southwest Airlines Co.)
What could explain it
What in Southwest Airlines Co.'s filed statements could explain the movements. (9 readings drawn from the statement lines Southwest Airlines Co. filed)
What to check next
What to check next on Southwest Airlines Co., and where in its filings. (7 questions for Southwest Airlines Co.)
In one paragraph
One paragraph on Southwest Airlines Co.'s returns, cash, balance sheet and price. (15 of sixteen figures read for Southwest Airlines Co.)

These are LUV’s filed figures. The research desk says what they mean, against peers and its own years, with what to check next.

Research LUVPart of Serious. New accounts start with 30 days of Professional, free, no card.

2 of 10

What changed

The newest filing, what it moved, and when the next one is due.

SEC filingCompany statement

The newest accounts on file are the FY2025 annual report: 10-K, filed Feb 5, 2026, accession 0000092380-26-000004.

3 of 10

Quality

The returns the business earns on its capital, and the margins behind them.

SEC filingComputed

Southwest Airlines Co: returns on capital and margins, each with its source
FigureValue, source and document
Return on invested capital, after tax3.1% ComputedFY2025 10-K, filed Feb 5, 2026, 0000092380-26-000004
Return on equity5.5% ComputedFY2025 10-K, filed Feb 5, 2026, 0000092380-26-000004
Return on capital employed, pre-tax2.4% ComputedFY2025 10-K, filed Feb 5, 2026, 0000092380-26-000004
Return on assets1.5% ComputedFY2025 10-K, filed Feb 5, 2026, 0000092380-26-000004
Gross margin
Why n/a

Our archived statements for this filer carry no gross profit line, so there is nothing to compute a gross margin from and trace back to source. That may be because the filer presents no cost of revenue, or because we have not captured the concept. We do not guess which.

n/a ComputedFY2025 10-K, filed Feb 5, 2026, 0000092380-26-000004
Operating margin1.5% ComputedFY2025 10-K, filed Feb 5, 2026, 0000092380-26-000004
Net margin1.6% ComputedFY2025 10-K, filed Feb 5, 2026, 0000092380-26-000004
LUV 1.6%
UAL 5.7%LTM 10.2%DAL 7.9%RYAAY 11.6%PAC 25.6%
1.6%25.6%
Net margin: LUV against the 5 companies named under Valuation context, each as filed for its own latest year. Placement only: no average is drawn.

4 of 10

Financial strength

What it owes against what it owns, and whether it can meet what falls due.

SEC filingComputedCompany statement

Southwest Airlines Co: leverage, liquidity and distress, each with its source
FigureValue, source and document
Debt to equity0.76 ComputedFY2025 10-K, filed Feb 5, 2026, 0000092380-26-000004
Current ratio0.52 ComputedFY2025 10-K, filed Feb 5, 2026, 0000092380-26-000004
Quick ratio0.52 ComputedFY2025 10-K, filed Feb 5, 2026, 0000092380-26-000004
Interest coverage2.56x ComputedFY2025 10-K, filed Feb 5, 2026, 0000092380-26-000004
Altman Z-score2.23 ComputedClose of Oct 15, 2026 · FY2025 10-K, filed Feb 5, 2026, 0000092380-26-000004
Net debt2.83B ComputedFY2025 10-K, filed Feb 5, 2026, 0000092380-26-000004
Total assets 29.06BTotal liabilities 21.08BShareholders' equity 7.98BOwnsOwes, and equity
Total assets Total liabilities Shareholders’ equity
The balance sheet, line by line

Financial health

What Southwest Airlines Co owned and owed at the end of fiscal 2025, from the balance sheet it filed (10-K, filed Feb 5, 2026, 0000092380-26-000004).

Southwest Airlines Co: balance sheet position
Total assets29.06B FiledFY2025 10-K, filed Feb 5, 2026
Total liabilities21.08B FiledFY2025 10-K, filed Feb 5, 2026
Shareholders' equity7.98B FiledFY2025 10-K, filed Feb 5, 2026
Cash3.23B FiledFY2025 10-K, filed Feb 5, 2026
Total debt6.06B FiledFY2025 10-K, filed Feb 5, 2026
Net debt2.83B
Current ratio0.52
Debt to equity0.76

Read from the filed balance sheet for each year, with the income statement of the same year supplying operating profit where a ratio needs it. Nothing here is a view on whether this company is sound.

5 of 10

Valuation context

What the market charges for it, against its own record and companies like it.

Market dataSEC filingComputed

Southwest Airlines Co: what the market charges, each with its source
FigureValue, source and document
Price to earnings49.79x ComputedClose of Oct 15, 2026 · FY2025 10-K, filed Feb 5, 2026, 0000092380-26-000004
P/E on trailing twelve months25.84x ComputedClose of Oct 15, 2026 · Trailing four quarters, each as known on the day; the quarterly filings are listed under Filings
Price to book2.85x ComputedClose of Oct 15, 2026 · FY2025 10-K, filed Feb 5, 2026, 0000092380-26-000004
Price to sales0.81x ComputedClose of Oct 15, 2026 · FY2025 10-K, filed Feb 5, 2026, 0000092380-26-000004
Enterprise value to EBIT59.84x ComputedClose of Oct 15, 2026 · FY2025 10-K, filed Feb 5, 2026, 0000092380-26-000004
Enterprise value to EBITDA12.88x ComputedClose of Oct 15, 2026 · FY2025 10-K, filed Feb 5, 2026, 0000092380-26-000004
Price to earnings over growth
Why n/a

We do not hold this figure for this company, so there is nothing to show.

n/a ComputedClose of Oct 15, 2026 · FY2025 10-K, filed Feb 5, 2026, 0000092380-26-000004
Diluted earnings per share0.79 USD FiledFY2025 10-K, filed Feb 5, 2026, 0000092380-26-000004
Graham number16.24 USD ComputedFY2025 10-K, filed Feb 5, 2026, 0000092380-26-000004

We publish no fair value or price target of our own. Value LUV on your own assumptions in the DCF workbench, starting from the filed figures.

Its own record, and companies like it

Valuation

What the market charges for Southwest Airlines Co today, and the multiples it has carried. No value of ours: the figures are the filings’ and the market’s.

Southwest Airlines Co: valuation
Share price40.83 USD
Market capitalisation19.97B USD
Enterprise value to EBITDA12.88x
Graham number16.24 USD
Diluted earnings per share, FY20250.79 USD

Price to earnings on trailing twelve months, a different basis from the fiscal-year P/E above, since Aug 1, 2017: low 6.82x, median 27.91x, high 223.21x, latest 25.84x. 1,924 trading days with a meaningful ratio, 391 more on a loss and left out. Each close over the trailing twelve months of earnings as known that day: a quarter counts from the day it was filed.

Companies like Southwest Airlines Co

  1. United Airlines Holdings, Inc. (UAL)Market cap 32.88B USD
  2. LATAM Airlines Group S.A. (LTM)Market cap 14.38B USD
  3. Delta Air Lines, Inc. (DAL)Market cap 51.37B USD
  4. Ryanair Holdings plc (RYAAY)Market cap 26.98B USD
  5. Grupo Aeroportuario del Pacífico, S.A.B. de C.V. (PAC)Market cap 10.50B USD

Same industry (Airlines, Airports & Air Services) and size band (Large, 10B to 200B), nearest in market value, net margin and current ratio. Each of those counts equally, by how many of the companies considered sit between the two on it. Closest first: the order is likeness and nothing else.

6 of 10

Cash generation

Whether profit arrives as cash, and what is paid back to shareholders.

SEC filingComputed

Southwest Airlines Co: cash generation and what is paid out, each with its source
FigureValue, source and document
Free cash flow yield-3.6% ComputedClose of Oct 15, 2026 · FY2025 10-K, filed Feb 5, 2026, 0000092380-26-000004
Free cash flow-831.0M USD ComputedFY2025 10-K, filed Feb 5, 2026, 0000092380-26-000004
Free cash flow margin-3.0% ComputedFY2025 10-K, filed Feb 5, 2026, 0000092380-26-000004
Dividend yield1.8% ComputedClose of Oct 15, 2026 · FY2025 10-K, filed Feb 5, 2026, 0000092380-26-000004
Payout ratio90.5% ComputedFY2025 10-K, filed Feb 5, 2026, 0000092380-26-000004
FY2016 Free cash flow: 2.25B USDFY2016 Net income: 2.18B USDFY2017 Free cash flow: 1.81B USDFY2017 Net income: 3.36B USDFY2018 Free cash flow: 2.97B USDFY2018 Net income: 2.46B USDFY2019 Free cash flow: 2.96B USDFY2019 Net income: 2.30B USDFY2020 Free cash flow: -1.64B USDFY2020 Net income: -3.07B USDFY2021 Free cash flow: 1.82B USDFY2021 Net income: 977.0M USDFY2022 Free cash flow: -134.0M USDFY2022 Net income: 539.0M USDFY2023 Free cash flow: -356.0M USDFY2023 Net income: 465.0M USDFY2024 Free cash flow: -1.59B USDFY2024 Net income: 465.0M USDFY2025 Free cash flow: -831.0M USDFY2025 Net income: 441.0M USD
Free cash flow Net incomeProfit that arrives as cash stands level with net income; a gap year after year is worth reading about.

7 of 10

Filings

Every figure, the year it is for and the document it was read from.

SEC filingMarket data

The filed figures

Computed from the accounts this company filed with the SEC and, in a ratio with a price in it, the last close, dated on this page. Every filed figure below carries the fiscal year and the filing date its accounts were read from, and every blank carries the reason it is blank. Nothing here is a view on this company.

Southwest Airlines Co.: the eight ratios, with the fiscal year and filing date behind each.
FigureValueYearAs of
49.79xFY2025Oct 15, 2026
2.85xFY2025Oct 15, 2026
59.84xFY2025Oct 15, 2026
-3.6%FY2025Oct 15, 2026
3.1%FY2025Feb 5, 2026
1.8%FY2025Oct 15, 2026
0.76FY2025Feb 5, 2026
0.52FY2025Feb 5, 2026
0.81xFY2025Oct 15, 2026
n/aFY2025Oct 15, 2026
n/a This figure compares a year against the one before it, and we hold one filed year for this company.
2.23FY2025Oct 15, 2026
-1.72FY2025Feb 5, 2026
6/9FY2025Feb 5, 2026

The figures are computed from the accounts for fiscal 2025, the newest full year on file. 10 filed fiscal years on record, FY2016 to FY2025, from SEC EDGAR. Prices as of Oct 15, 2026. Ratios recomputed Oct 15, 2026. Two facts, because a recompute is not a fresh quote.

The year and the filing date name the statement each figure’s accounts are read from, and they stand even where the figure itself could not be computed: the line beneath a blank says what that statement did not carry. A figure’s name opens its formula and the filings behind it; a statement that names no SEC filing has no filing date, and reads n/a.

Ten years of filed figures, year by year

Ten years of filed figures

10 filed fiscal years, FY2016 to FY2025, read from the annual reports Southwest Airlines Co filed with the SEC. Each year names its filing. Amounts in USD, as filed.

Southwest Airlines Co: revenue, earnings, free cash flow and returns, by fiscal year, with the filing each year was read from
YearRevenueOperating incomeNet incomeEPS, dilutedFree cash flowOperating marginReturn on equityFiling
FY202528.06B428.0M441.0M0.79-831.0M1.5%5.5%10-K, Feb 5, 20260000092380-26-000004
FY202427.48B321.0M465.0M0.76-1.59B1.2%4.5%10-K, Feb 7, 20250000092380-25-000024
FY202326.09B224.0M465.0M0.76-356.0M0.9%4.4%10-K, Feb 6, 20240000092380-24-000027
FY202223.81B1.02B539.0M0.87-134.0M4.3%5.0%10-K, Feb 7, 20230000092380-23-000010
FY202115.79B1.72B977.0M1.611.82B10.9%9.4%10-K, Feb 7, 20220000092380-22-000007
FY20209.05B-3.82B-3.07B-5.44-1.64B-42.2%-34.6%10-K, Feb 8, 20210000092380-21-000033
FY201922.43B2.96B2.30B4.272.96B13.2%23.4%10-K, Feb 4, 20200000092380-20-000024
FY201821.96B3.21B2.46B4.292.97B14.6%25.0%10-K, Feb 5, 20190000092380-19-000022
FY201721.17B3.41B3.36B5.571.81B16.1%34.8%10-K, Feb 7, 20180000092380-18-000031
FY201620.43B3.52B2.18B3.452.25B17.2%28.0%10-K, Feb 7, 20170000092380-17-000029
  • Revenue, compound annual growth FY2016 to FY2025: 3.6%
  • Earnings, compound annual growth FY2016 to FY2025: -16.3%
  • Earnings per share, compound annual growth FY2016 to FY2025: -15.1%
  • Free cash flow: Free cash flow was not positive in both 2016 and 2025, so a compound rate across the window is not defined. Both figures are in the table.

Every figure in this section is a line of a filed annual statement or a ratio of two of them. Nothing here is estimated or smoothed. Earnings per share filed before a share split are put on today's share count, and say so. Nothing here is a verdict on the company.

8 of 10

Risks and guardrails

The accounting screens, the published tests, and the lines you can set to be told.

ComputedCompany statement

Southwest Airlines Co: accounting screens and published tests, each with its source
FigureValue, source and document
Beneish M-score-1.72 ComputedFY2025 10-K, filed Feb 5, 2026, 0000092380-26-000004
Piotroski F-score6/9 ComputedFY2025 10-K, filed Feb 5, 2026, 0000092380-26-000004
Named tests met0 of 30 Computed
Beta1.29 ComputedClose of Oct 15, 2026

The named tests

Of 30 tests value investors published: 0 met, 29 not met, 1 we could not complete. Counts, never a score: a single figure would have to decide that meeting one investor’s criteria and meeting another’s are worth the same.

Which tests, by name(all 30)
Meets
None of the named tests.
Does not
Defensive investor (Benjamin Graham); Deep value; Large cap, low P/E; Earnings yield and ROIC (Joel Greenblatt); High F-score, low P/B (Joseph Piotroski); Three forensic scores; Low PEG, low debt (Peter Lynch); High returns and growth; EV/EBITDA and coverage; High yield, low payout; Dividends and buybacks; Low beta, profitable; ROIC at or above WACC; Near the 52-week low; Z-score and coverage (Edward Altman); Two thirds of NCAV (Benjamin Graham); P/E times P/B (Benjamin Graham); High returns, low debt; Owner earnings yield; High return on tangibles; Low P/S, rising earnings (James O'Shaughnessy); Book or below, low debt (Walter Schloss); Cash-covered dividend; Tangible book or below; Cash-flow yield and ROIC; Clean books, high ROIC; Cheapest quarter on P/E (David Dreman); Cheapest quarter on P/B (David Dreman); Low P/E, growth, yield (John Neff)
Not measured
Gross margin, turnover (Robert Novy-Marx). A test with a figure we could not read is incomplete, never met and never failed.
Figures we could not read(3)
  • PEG Ratio: We do not hold this figure for this company, so there is nothing to show.
  • Eps Growth 5Y: We do not hold this figure for this company, so there is nothing to show.
  • Gross Margin: Our archived statements for this filer carry no gross profit line, so there is nothing to compute a gross margin from and trace back to source. That may be because the filer presents no cost of revenue, or because we have not captured the concept. We do not guess which.

9 of 10

Declared positions

Whether anybody here owns this company.

Positions declared by the founder: no holding in any company shown here, as of October 3, 2026.

10 of 10

Next step

What to do with what you have read.

A thesis is your reason for owning it, in your words, with the figures that must stay true. Checking those figures every night against the newest filed accounts, and telling you once when one breaks, is what the subscription adds.

More on this company

What this cannot tell you

  • 3 figures could not be read on this company: PEG Ratio, Eps Growth 5Y, Gross Margin. 1 named test comes back incomplete because of them, which is neither met nor missed.

And the one that is true of all of it: This is what the numbers say today. It cannot tell you the day one of them stops being true. Nothing here can, because the reasons are not written down.

Running this once is arithmetic on public documents and you are welcome to it. Writing down why you own each company, in your own words and with the numbers that have to stay true for it to hold, and then having those numbers re-checked every night against the newest filed accounts, and against the latest close where a rule watches a price, is Professional, the plan a new account starts on for 30 days, one trial per person. It writes to you the day one breaks, and stays quiet when nothing does. The check runs every night at 23:30 UTC. A filing is picked up the night after it is published.

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ValueScreener · valuescreener.ai · Computed from accounts filed with the SEC by this company, read from EDGAR, and from dated closing prices. On this page a filed figure opens into its formula, its inputs and the statement, fiscal year and filing date it was read from, and a price into the day of its close. A figure that cannot show that trail says so.

A computation on accounts filed with the SEC, not a recommendation and not advice. Past filings do not indicate future results. Risk disclaimer.

Once a week, what changed in the filings of US-listed companies, why it can matter to a thesis, and what deserves a closer review. Grounded in filings, not market noise.

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Risk disclaimer. This service is provided for research and education only. Nothing on it is investment advice, a recommendation, or an offer to buy or sell any security. Capital is at risk, and past performance does not indicate future results. Figures come from filed accounts and may be incomplete, delayed or later restated, so verify a number against the filing before you act on it.