Originally Posted by Daitheflu84

I'm still holding onto mine, even though I'm down $9 a share in the last 10 days. I assume it's going to drop further when they release what is sure to be a grim earnings report next week. I suspect it will probably hit $15-16 a share, at which time I'll hopefully not panic and will instead double my holdings at a significant discount.

Still hard to believe that we were at $50 a share a little more than a month ago. It's a good thing I'm not able to fly right now, so hopefully my savings will offset my losses from a brutal March.

Originally Posted by mridley2

I'm sure Buffett is doing what a lot of other savvy investors (myself included) are doing. S&P 500 and Dow Jones are currently on a fire sale. Rock bottom prices. Buy now and wait 2-5 years until we see the highs again. Likely other companies stock price will recover faster than Delta/airlines. Long Term though Delta will be fine and is a solid investment.

Originally Posted by Duke787

Just remember DL is burning $100M a day and their goal is to get that down to $50M a day (and UAL said much the same and has a goal of $30M by end of year). Travel recovery of 1-2 years is an awfully big risk when you own the amount of stock he owned in the airlines. There is so much unknown and remember airline margins are thin in the best of times, imagine what happens to those margins if social distancing reduces capacity or you have to increase expense to cover things like masks, gloves, cleaning, etc.

Sure he sold at a loss but at least he was able to get something in return -- if any airline goes to bankruptcy (which is a strong possibility), that numbers goes all the way down to $0 which is a big. And I assume he looked at those factors and decided that the $45 range was no longer an attainable valuation given the unknown (in contrast to say the energy sector when you can fairly easily envision the need for oil and gas even if people are social distancing).

Makes sense now why he sold to get below the threshold initially -- that allowed him to dump the rest without having to announce it until he got out of everything

Originally Posted by lsquare

I doubt it. There are so many jobs at stake and this is an election year. The airlines will survive whether there is a bailout or not. You can take this statement to the bank.

Originally Posted by Duke787

Surviving does not equal valuable stock

Originally Posted by lsquare

Right and I would agree with you on that point, but you were talking about the strong possibility of bankruptcy.

Originally Posted by lsquare

Right and I would agree with you on that point, but you were talking about the strong possibility of bankruptcy.

Originally Posted by Duke787

Bankruptcy and survival aren’t mutually exclusive either. All 3 majors have filed Chapter 11 since 2000 and are still alive.

Stock still goes to zero though and investors are wiped out for the most part even though the jobs and assets are largely protected.

Originally Posted by travelinmanS

Delta and all the airlines are going bankrupt this year. They will still be around but shareholders will get wiped out. Investments in Delta stock will be worth nothing after bankruptcy which is why WB sold now to try and salvage at least some of the money he wasted by not listening to his own advice about buying airline stocks.

Originally Posted by lsquare

You guys don't think that the airlines will avoid bankruptcy at least through this year given the cost cutting and federal support so far?

Originally Posted by travelinmanS

I don’t think it’s possible they survive without a bankruptcy filing. It may be early next year rather than this year but it’s hard to operate a business in its current form when there is no demand for the product. They can use bankruptcy to restructure and come out a much smaller company but still utilizing the Delta name.

Originally Posted by lsquare

Here's the part that I don't understand. How will restructuring help it operate in this environment when there's virtually no demand? The only way demand will start to recover is when governments start relaxing travel restrictions, viral testing increases, COVID-19 treatment comes online, or if a vaccine is developed. Right now, it seems like everything is there for the airlines to ride out this storm.

Originally Posted by Duke787

Bankruptcy and survival aren’t mutually exclusive either. All 3 majors have filed Chapter 11 since 2000 and are still alive.

Stock still goes to zero though and investors are wiped out for the most part even though the jobs and assets are largely protected.

Originally Posted by sm0421

I wonder why? I know he said his reasons. Maybe because I enjoy flying and I’m confident the airlines will return to normal once we have a vaccine and recover in 1-2 years..... to sell at at least 50% loss... maybe because he is old?