Investing.com- TD Cowen reiterated its Buy rating on United Airlines Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:), while raising its price target on the stock to positive Q4 earnings, further supporting a strong 2025 outlook.
TD raised its price target on UAL to $165.0 from $142.0 and reiterated a buy rating. The new PT represents a 60% increase over UAL’s Thursday.
UAL missed stronger-than-expected earnings for the December quarter and also presented above-consensus guidance for the current quarter. The airline flagged strong and broad-based demand for travel across its geographies and also noted an improvement in corporate travel.
TD analysts said they were impressed by the company’s call, which in turn boosted its status as one of the “best ideas (and) brokerages” for 2025.
The brokerage said UAL was “ideally positioned to capitalize on the current industry dynamics” with investments in luxury travel, which has become a major margin driver for the travel industry.
TD expects UAL’s benefits from the investment to “materially pick up” in 2026 and 2027, both in aircraft and operations. The brokerage house also noted UAL’s installation of satellite internet via Starlink across its fleets, as well as investments in the Kinektiv media advertising platform as major differentiators for its business.
UAL was the standout among airline stocks, as the company took advantage of capitalization following a recovery in passenger demand while leaning more heavily on rising luxury demand.
