Southwest Airlines
Through the investors’ lenses
0 of 2 cleared1 of 6 criteria
Each of these investors has said in public what they look at before buying. Click a name to see how this company measures up — a tick where it passes one of their tests, a cross where it does not.
Warren Buffett 1/4
| Measure | LUV | Checked against | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Owner earnings | $-672.00m | positive | ✗ |
| Return on equity | 5.5% | US median 2.8% | ✓ |
| Debt to equity | 0.62x | US median 0.57x | ✗ |
| Operating margin | 1.5% | US median 3.1% | ✗ |
Passes 1 of 4. These are the measures Warren Buffett published, applied to Southwest Airlines’s own figures — their criteria, not their view of this company. What he looks at, and why →
Benjamin Graham 0/2
| Measure | LUV | Checked against | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Current ratio | 0.52x | 2.00x published | ✗ |
| Long-term debt to working capital | — | 1.00x published | — |
| Positive earnings, ten years running | 5 yrs | 10 published | ✗ |
Passes 0 of 2. These are the measures Benjamin Graham published, applied to Southwest Airlines’s own figures — their criteria, not their view of this company. What he looks at, and why →
| Basis | Payout | Why |
|---|---|---|
| GAAP earnings | 91.1% | whyThe figure most screeners publish. |
| Operating cash flow | 21.7% | whyBefore capital spending. |
| Free cash flow | negative | whyOCF fell $831m short of capex — the dividend was not funded from free cash flow. |
Nothing is marked as applying, deliberately. The basis that governs here is free cash flow, and this year it yields no ratio at all. The figure above is shown for completeness; treating it as the answer is the substitution this page exists to prevent.
Spread between highest and lowest: 69.5 percentage points. Same filings, different denominators.
Coverage rating 74 / 100 — Adequate. ? Peer standing 40/50Direction 18/30Stability 16/20
Free cash flow payout, last 6 years
| Fiscal year | Payout |
|---|---|
| 2019-12-31 | 12.6% |
| 2018-12-31 | 11.2% |
| 2017-12-31 | 15.2% |
| 2016-12-31 | 9.8% |
| 2015-12-31 | 15.0% |
| 2014-12-31 | 12.0% |
80% of the 118 industrials here pay out more — comfortable for the sector.
The arithmetic
- GAAP earnings — dividends declared per share $0.720 ÷ diluted EPS $0.790
- Operating cash flow — dividends paid $399m ÷ operating cash flow $1,842m
- Free cash flow — dividends paid $399m ÷ (operating cash flow $1,842m − capex $2,673m)
Where the figures came from
- 10-K filed 2026-02-05 · accession 0000092380-26-000004
Every one is public at sec.gov and free to check. That is the point — you should not have to take our word for any of it.
Computed by an open pipeline reading SEC XBRL directly. If any number here looks wrong to you, tell us — that is more useful to us than agreement.
Also on: rated adequate · when it files.
Who else looks like this
Every figure above is computed from Southwest Airlines’s own filing, and every company here is measured the same way. Screen all of them on any of these twelve measures, or on the rules two investors published — free, and nothing you screen leaves your browser.
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