PowerShares Buyback Achievers ETF

In November 2017, Delta’s (DAL) capacity grew 2.9% YoY (year-over-year) to ~18.9 billion miles. YTD (year-to-date), the carrier’s capacity has risen 1.0%.

Analysts’ recommendations Of the 17 analysts tracking Southwest Airlines (LUV), 36.8% of the analysts (seven analysts) gave a “strong buy” rating on the stock, while another 47.4% (nine analysts) gave a “buy” rating. The remaining 15.8% (three analysts) gave a “hold” rating. None of the analysts gave a “sell” or “strong sell” rating on the […]

Southwest Airlines ended 3Q17 with ~$3.0 billion in cash on its balance sheet.

Delta Air Lines (DAL) has a forward EV-to-EBITDA multiple of 5.6x. That’s higher than its average valuation of 5.4x from January 2009 to date.

At the start of 2017, Delta Air Lines (DAL) raised its debt by ~$2.0 billion in order to reduce its pension plan liability.

Delta Air Lines’ (DAL) average traffic increased 3.4% YoY to 61.0 million passenger miles for 3Q17. For the first nine months of 2017, traffic has increased 2.1% to 166.5 billion miles.

In 1Q17, American Airlines’ (AAL) EBITDA (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortization) is expected to fall 31% to $1.2 billion.

Delta Air Lines (DAL) is currently valued at 5.3x its forward EV-to-EBITDA (enterprise value to earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortization) multiple.

For 1Q17, Delta Air Lines (DAL) expects a 0.5% capacity decline as compared to the first quarter of 2016.

In the fourth quarter of 2016, Delta Air Lines (DAL) generated $640 billion of free cash flow—slightly higher than the $497 billion free cash flow generated in 4Q15.

Delta Air Lines (DAL) saw average traffic of about 50 million passenger miles for the quarter, a 0.8% year-over-year improvement

For Boeing (BA) to fulfill this promise to its employees, it would require $17.9 billion—a huge sum by any standard.

Marriott’s (MAR) RevPAR for 2Q16 rose 2.9% across its worldwide properties. North America RevPAR rose 3.2% due to a 2.2% rise in ADR.

All airline pilots have their eyes on Delta Air Lines’ (DAL) final agreement with its pilots. This is because Delta’s deal will set a precedent in the industry.

In this series, we’ll take a look at Delta’s proposed new deal for a pay raise for its pilots. We’ll also see why this deal will be important for other airlines

What products single out specifically the share buyback companies?

Historically, we have seen Buyback does perform very well across all interest rate environments. Looking at the data back to the mid-80s, it does well.

According to Marriott’s (MAR) CEO, Arne Sorensen, Starwood’s (HOT) guest loyalty program was a “central, strategic rationale for the transaction.”

Archer Daniels Midland’s (ADM) revenue fell 9% YoY (year-over-year) to $15.63 billion in 2Q16—compared to $17.19 billion in the same quarter last year.

Looking at Boeing’s dividends, we see that it has been a consistent dividend payer for more than two decades. For 2Q16, it paid a total of $691 million in dividends.

Apple (AAPL) is one of the most cash-rich companies in the US. While Carl Icahn has been talking about share buybacks artificially inflating the Market and asset values, some buybacks have occurred as a result of his push.

Carl Icahn is one of the first activist investors to voice his opinion against share buybacks. He believes that companies are increasingly putting money into buybacks instead of using them for much-needed capital improvements.

After posting adjusted EPS growth rates exceeding 20% in the first three quarters of fiscal 2016, the earnings expectations for Nike (NKE) in the fourth quarter are modest.

Home Depot’s EPS growth for fiscal 2017 is expected to be 14.8%, which is higher than the 12%–13% expected earlier.

Boeing’s Commercial Airplanes segment saw a 6% YoY (year-over-year) decline in revenue to $14.3 billion in 1Q16.

By reducing the number of outstanding shares, companies increase the EPS. Through share buybacks, companies return more cash to shareholders.

The merger of Alaska Air and Virgin America is expected to be completed by January 1, 2017. Alaska Air last went through this process in 1982, when it acquired Horizon Air.

Nike has (NKE) had two good quarters in fiscal 2015, propelled by a higher demand for its premium products.

Costco Wholesale’s (COST) current dividend stands at $0.40 per share each quarter. This works out to a DPS (dividend per share) of $1.60 annually.

Boeing has been continuously investing labor and capital into the production of the Dreamliner series in order to improve efficiency and lower the production costs for the jet.

Panera Bread (PNRA) noted that the increase in same-store sales growth was primarily due to the implementation of Panera 2.0. Panera 2.0 utilizes digital technology to enhance customer experience and increase the company’s operational efficiency.

Boeing (BA) paid $608 million in dividends during 4Q15. In 2015, BA paid a total of $2.5 billion in dividends, which is ~36% of its free cash flow generated for 2015.

Besides margins enhancements, Lowe’s has also employed both leverage and share buybacks to improve returns to shareholders.

Of the 28 analysts rating FedEx stock, 57.1% (16 analysts) have a “buy” rating, 42.9% (12 analysts) have a “hold” rating, and no analysts have a “sell” rating.

FedEx continues to see growth in the global economy. It expects the US GDP to grow by 2.4% in 2015 and by 2.6% in 2016, driven by increased consumer spending.

FedEx Ground is being driven by the booming growth in e-commerce, and it contributed to 35% of the company’s revenues but 44% of its profits.

Of the total 206 holdings of PKW, 102 have given negative performances in the market, whereas the rest have given positive returns.

Hypermarcas is Brazil’s largest pharmaceutical company, with an estimated market share of 14% in terms of unit sales.

Unlike funds that are either actively or passively managed, smart beta funds use the combination of both approaches to generate high returns at a low cost.

On July 9, 2015, Coty and Procter & Gamble announced a definitive agreement to merge 43 P&G beauty brands with Coty in a Reverse Morris Trust deal.

SPY’s performance was more volatile than that of PKW and VLUE. PKW and VLUE performed nearly equally in the market, with PKW leading VLUE at various points.

Apart from IBM, “buy” recommendations surpass “sell” and “hold” recommendations for all PKW’s top stocks, indicating that Wall Street analysts are positive.

The Home Depot (HD) paid out $1.5 billion by way of dividends in the first two quarters of fiscal 2016. The company has paid out 39.6% of its earnings as dividends over the past 12 months.

PCY is a smart beta fixed income security fund. It tracks the investment results of the DB Emerging Market USD Liquid Balanced Index.

Smart beta ETFs are simply funds that follow their indexes. They’re designed unconventionally to take advantage of the inefficiencies in the market.

Smaller ETFs that provide exposure to the courier services industry include Buyback Achievers (PKW), the First Trust Capital Strength ETF (FTCS), and the MSCI Industrials Index ETF (FIDU).

The growth in e-commerce among various economies across the globe has helped shape the highly competitive courier service industry that we know today.

FedEx was formed with a vision to change the way delivery services worked prior to 1971. It established a new industry and it has been leading its peers since then.