As United reels, traders can't agree if it's time to buy airline stocks
The "Fast Money" traders check-in on the airline sector after United Continental's (NYSE: UAL) board of directors said CEO Oscar Munoz will not be adding chairman to his title in 2018, as previously planned.
The announcement comes nearly two weeks after United Airlines passenger Dr.David Dao was dragged off an overbooked flight, and the video of the incident sparked an uproar on social media.
Trader Steve Grasso said he is staying out of airline stocks entirely, but mentions Spirit (NASDAQ: SAVE) and JetBlue (NASDAQ: JBLU) as the best names to buy.
Tim Seymour said he "is not scared" of United's (NYSE: UAL) stock, in spite of the company's long dragging passenger fiasco. He said the company is running an efficient business, by the numbers, and United recently released posted positive earnings.
Seymour also said he likes American Airlines (NASDAQ: AAL) in the space.
Trader Brian Kelly mostly agreed with the chorus of traders, saying the decision with Munoz is not an event on which to buy or sell.
Kelly said he favored Delta (NYSE: DAL) among the airlines because the stock has a "nice risk reward."
Disclosures:
Tim Seymour is long ABX, AAPL, APC, AVP, BAC, BBRY, C, CLF, CVX, DO, DVYE, EDC, EWN, EWZ, F, FB, FCX, FXI, GM, GOOGL, GE, INTC, LQD, MOS, MCD, MUR, OIH, PG, RACE, RAI, RH, RL, SINA, SQ,T, TWTR, VALE, VZ, XOM. short: EEM, SPY, XRT;Tim's firm is long ABX, BABA, BIDU, CBD, CLF, EEM, EWZ, F, KO, MCD, MPEL, NKE, PEP, PF, TCEHY, SAVE, SBUX, SINA, VALE, VIAB, WMT, WEN, X, YHOO, short EWG, HYG, IWM
Karen is long AAL, BAC, BAC short calls, C, DAL, EEM, EPI, EWW, DVYE, FB, FL, GLMP, GOGO, GOOG, GOOGL, JPM, LYV, KORS, KORS calls, KORS puts, MA, SEDG, SPY puts, TACO, WFM. Her firm is long ANTM, BAC, C, C calls, FB, GOOG, GOOGL, JPM, JPM calls, KORS, LYV, PLCE, SPY puts, WIFI, her firm is short IWM, MDY.
BK is long Bitcoin, GE, GDX, HLF, TLT, TSLA, WMT.
Steve Grasso's firm is long stock AON, BX, CUBA, DIA, F, HES, ICE, KDUS, MAT, MFIN, MJNA, MSFT, NE, RIG, SNAP, SPY, SQBG, TITXF, UA, WDR, WPX, ZNGA. Grasso is long stock BABA, CHK, EEM, EVGN, GDX, KBH, MJNA, MON, OLN, PFE, PHM, T, TWTR, VRX. Grasso's kids own EFA, EFG, EWJ, IJR, SPY. NO SHORTS.
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