airline stocks

This is a look at three airline stocks-Air Canada,Chorus Aviation,and WestJet.Air Canada has gone from about $2 per share in August to above $5 in October.A dramatic rise that is probably related to their $3 billion refinancing that dramatically increased their assets but gave them negative shareholder equity of $3.34 billion.On the other hand,they have had continually increasing traffic and load factors over 2013.According to stockbroker's reports their earnings per share was $.65 per share with a P/E ratio of 7.97 and Ebitda of $124 million.
Secondly we have Chorus Aviation which has seen a slight increase in traffic and has somewhat restructured their business.They have a maintenance facility in Halifax and have put some recent improvements in it as they also closed down their London facility.This, in order, to make Halifax a first class facility.Chorus has investments in Uruguay and previously in Thomas Cook Charters.Thomas Cook ended it's relationship this year.It is too early to tell whether they will increase their                                  investment in Uruguay  and if it will be profitable.
 Chorus, according to stockbrokers has earnings per share of $1.54 and a P/E ratio of 4.87 and an Ebitda of $117 million.
Chorus has gone through an autopsy of it's agreement with Air Canada it's biggest customer and there should be no major changes in it for awhile.There did not seem to be any major changes to the agreement but Chorus has dropped in price since the revision process.Can Air Canada still have strings to pull on this agreement?It is possible.Chorus' assets are much less than Air Canada but so is it's debt.It has shareholder's equity of only about $150 million.
WestJet has climbed from about $20 in the summer to it's present $25 a share.According to stockbroker's reports it's earnings per share is $1.99 per share and P/E ratio of 12.76 and Ebitda of $341 million.WestJet has higher load factors recently while increasing it's capacity.Revenue should increase in the season near Christmas.
Third quarter earnings will be out soon for all three stocks and it is likely that Chorus and WestJet earnings will increase slightly and Air Canada will likely show an increase in revenue and a healthy drop in earnings if it's debt costs come into play in this quarter.WestJet looks like the winner followed by Chorus.How closely Chorus follows will depend on their investments and the profitability of their Halifax operations.