US Airways Group rises in strong trading with rising open interest

STOCKS

US Airways Group (LCC.N), NYSE's 7th largest airlines company by market capitalisation, rose 6.0c (or 1.1%) to close at US$5.66. Compared with the NYSE U.S. 100 index, which rose 76.4 points (or 1.4%) on the day, this was a relative price change of -0.4%.

OPEN INTEREST TREND AND INTERPRETATION

Same day trend: open interest rose for a second day. Open interest rose 0.8% from 91,671 to 92,396. Combined with the price rising 1.1% this suggests the market is strong.

Trailing one week trend: open interest rose for a second week. Open interest rose 0.9% from 91,592 a week ago while the stock slid 5.8% from US$5.76 a week ago. Combined with the falling price this suggests the market is weak.

Trailing one month trend: open interest soared 24.7% from 74,099 a month ago while the stock crashed 12.0% from US$6.43 a month ago. Combined with the falling price this also suggests the market is weak.

Open interest as % of issued capital: 9,239,600 shares, representing 5.7% of the issued capital.

[ranked 175 out of 1571 stocks in descending order]

2011 Open interest: 44,003 contracts, representing 47.6% of total.

2012 to 2013 Open interest: 48,393 contracts, representing 52.4% of total.

Put:call ratio: open interest contracts on exchange traded options included 46,087 put contracts and 46,309 call contracts.

The put:call ratio was 1.0, down 1.4% for the day, down 4.9% in the past week and down 8.0% in the past month.

Top three traded call options [1 contract is 100 shares]

Exercise US$6.0; Expires Nov 19: 32.0c up 18.5%; volume 2001; open interest 3779

Exercise US$7.0; Expires Nov 19: 11.0c up 57.1%; volume 264; open interest 3796

Exercise US$5.0; Expires Nov 19: 88.0c up 3.5%; volume 245; open interest 351

Top three traded put options [1 contract is 100 shares]

Exercise US$5.0; Expires Nov 19: 21.0c down 4.5%; volume 395; open interest 689

Exercise US$4.0; Expires Nov 19: 8.0c up 14.3%; volume 133; open interest 496

Exercise US$6.0; Expires Jun 16: US$1.50 down 2.0%; volume 115; open interest 31

PRICE DYNAMICS

Volatility: the stock traded between an intraday low of US$5.59 and a high of US$5.78, suggesting a trading opportunity between peaks and troughs. The average daily volatility of 4.8% places the stock in the 1st quartile in the market meaning it is highly volatile.

% Premium to low: the last price is at a premium of 24.9% to the 12-month low of US$4.53 one month ago on 03 Oct, 2011.

Volume weighted price (VWP): the price is about the same as its 1-month volume weighted average price of US$5.688.

Falls to Rises: In the last three months the number of falls outnumbered rises 35:31 or 1.13:1.

Beta: The Beta of this stock is 0.91. A Beta lower than 1 suggests this is a low risk, low return stock with volatility less than that of the market.

Standard Deviation (SD): SD is a statistical measure of deviation from the mean. The SD of 3.8% gives it a percentile rank of 83 meaning that 83% of stocks in the NYSE market are less volatile than this stock.

Trailing month: in the last 21 trading sessions there has been a net decline of 7.52%; the stock has retreated 18 times and the biggest one day decline was 15.8% on Oct 03.

AGGREGATE VOLUMES, PRICES AND TURNOVER PERIOD

[Volume Index or VI in brackets; 1 is average]

New York: LCC.N 4,920,476 [VI of 0.7]; volume 94.45% of aggregate. Price: US$5.66.

BATS: LCC.BATS 289,122 [VI of 0.6]; volume 5.55% of aggregate. Price: US$5.67.

Aggregate volume: there were 5,209,598 shares worth US$29.5 million traded. The aggregate volume was 0.7 times average trading of 7,028,093 shares.

Access comprehensive Stock Research on http://www.buysellsignals.com/19611498

PRICE PERFORMANCE RANK IN INDEX AND SECTORS

The stock is in 1 index and 2 sectors.

The following index and sectors rose setting the trend for its rise of 1.1%:

NYSE U.S. 100 index which was up 76.4 points or 1.4% to 5,440.6,

The Total NYSE Market of 1868 stocks and 42 units traded today, which was up 83.5 points or 1.4% to 6,159.3,

Airlines sector of 9 stocks traded today, which was up 33.4 points or 0.6% to 5,258.

RELATIVE VALUATION INDICATORS [RVI] FUNDAMENTAL ANALYSIS

The stock meets the following value criteria set by Benjamin Graham:

-"A P/E ratio down to less than four-tenth of the highest average P/E ratio the stock attained in the most recent five years"; the P/E of 1.8 is 0.1 times the highest average P/E of 19.0 reached on Apr 24, 2007.

The stock has a score of 5 out of 9 set by Joseph Piotroski [pass mark >=5 ]:

Positive net income; Positive operating cashflow; Good quality of earnings [operating cashflow exceeds net income]; Improvement in current ratio from 0.84% to 1.02%; Improvement in asset turnover [growth in revenue of 13.86% exceeded growth in assets of 4.9%].

Other Bullish Signals:

- Price/Earnings of 1.8 versus sector average of 16.2 and market average of 15.9.

- Return on Assets of 6.4% versus sector average of 2.0% and market average of 2.2%.

- Return on Capital Employed of 16.7% versus sector average of 6.5% and market average of 12.2%.

Bearish Signals:

- Total Liabilities/ EBITDA of 7.2 is more than or equal to 5, this compares unfavourably with the Joseph Piotroski benchmark of 5.

- The average annual compound return on the share price in the last 5 years was -35.2%, underperforming the average annual compound return on the NYSE U.S. 100 index of -3.3%

RELATIVE VALUATION INDICATORS [RVI] TECHNICAL ANALYSIS

Bullish Signals:

- The Moving Average Convergence Divergence (MACD) indicator of 12-day Exponential Moving Average (EMA) minus the 26-day EMA is positive suggesting a bullish signal.

Bearish Signals:

- The price slid 5.8% in the last week and crashed 12.0% in the last month.

- In the NYSE market of 1,868 stocks and 42 units traded today, the stock has a 6-month relative strength of 15 indicating it is trailing 85.0% of the market.

- The price to 50-day EMAP ratio is 0.96. In the past 200 days this ratio has been under 0.96 30 times suggesting downside. The 50-day EMAP has decreased to US$5.871. A decrease is another bearish indicator.

- In the last three months the stock has hit a new 52-week low ten times, pointing to a significant downtrend.

- The price to 200-day MAP ratio is 0.72, a bearish indicator. In the past 200 days this ratio has been under 0.72 52 times suggesting further downside. The 50-day MAP of US$5.588 is lower than the 200-day MAP of US$7.85, a bearish indicator. The 200-day MAP has decreased to US$7.85. A decrease is another bearish indicator.

SHAREHOLDER RETURNS

Trailing one week: the stock rose three times (60% of the time) and fell twice (40% of the time). The aggregate volume was 0.8 times average trading of 35,336,870 shares. The value of US$1,000 invested a week ago is US$940 [vs US$1,029 for the NYSE U.S. 100 index], for a capital loss of US$60(or loss of 6.0%).

Trailing one month: the stock rose twelve times (55% of the time) and fell ten times (45% of the time). The aggregate volume was 0.96 times average trading of 155,482,228 shares. The value of US$1,000 invested a month ago is US$880 [vs US$1,074 for the NYSE U.S. 100 index], for a capital loss of US$120(or loss of 12.0%).

Trailing one year: the value of US$1,000 invested one year ago is US$483 [vs US$1,058 for the NYSE U.S. 100 index], for a capital loss of US$517. The total return to shareholders for 1 year is -51.8%.

Trailing five years: the value of US$1,000 invested five years ago is US$115, for a capital loss of US$885.

The present value of US$1000 invested at a previous date is shown below:

FINANCIALS

Quarterly Report; year-on-year comparisons with previous corresponding period:

In the quarter to June 30, 2011 total revenue was up 10.5% to US$3.5 billion; net profit slumped 67.5% to US$91 million; EPS of 57.0c.

Annual Report for the year ended December 31, 2010 (year-on-year comparisons with previous corresponding period)-

Total liabilities to Total assets of 1.0.

Favourable Changes: total liabilities to EBITDA down 72.2% to 7.2. While this compares unfavourably with the Joseph Piotroski benchmark of <5, the trend is favourable; although the Total Liabilities to Operating Cash Flow ratio of 9.6 also compares unfavourably with the Joseph Piotroski benchmark of <4, it had improved by 92.7% from the previous year.; current ratio up 21.4% to 1.0; Sales to total assets up 8.6% to 1.5.

Major Common Size Ratios: fixed assets to total assets down from 49.6% to 48.5%; total current assets to total assets up from 31.3% to 37.2%; cash to total assets up from 17.4% to 23.8%; other non-current assets to total assets down from 19.1% to 14.2%; intangibles to total assets down from 6.7% to 6.1%; EBITDA to Sales up from 2.9% to 9.1%; EBITD to Sales up from 2.9% to 9.1%; EBIT to Sales up from 0.6% to 7.0%.

MARKET SHARE

US Airways Group vs Airlines sector [Airlines sector Total in Brackets]

Net Profit of US$502 million [15.3% of aggregate sector net profit of US$3.3 billion; up from 10.8% in the previous year.]

EBIT of US$831 million [10.5% of aggregate sector EBIT of US$7.9 billion; up from 4.9% in the previous year.]

FUNDAMENTALS

ISSUED CAPITAL

Based on 162,082,473 issued equity shares the market capitalisation is US$917.4 million. It is NYSE's 6th largest Airlines company by total revenue.

ACTIVITIES

US Airways Group, Inc. (US Airways Group) is a holding company whose primary business activity is the operation of a network air carrier through its wholly owned subsidiaries, US Airways, Inc. (US Airways), Piedmont Airlines, Inc. (Piedmont), PSA Airlines, Inc. (PSA), Material Services Company, Inc. (MSC) and Airways Assurance Limited, LLC (AAL). Passenger revenues account for substantiall portion of the Company's operating revenues.

TOP MANAGEMENT

The chief financial officer is Derek J. Kerr and the chairman and chief executive officer is W. Douglas Parker.

BUSINESS NEWS ROUND UP

The last 5 company announcements are:

October 05: US Airways Reports Record September Load Factor

[News Story] US Airways Group, Inc. (NYSE: LCC) today announced September, quarter and year-to-date 2011 traffic results. Mainline revenue passenger miles (RPMs. for the month were 4.9 billion, down 0.9 percent versus September 2010. Mainline capacity was 5.8 billion available seat miles (ASMs., down 2.7 percent versus September 2010.

August 26: US Airways Reduces East Coast Schedule in Anticipation of Hurricane Irene

[News Story] US Airways (NYSE: LCC) today announced that it is proactively canceling flights along the East Coast as a result of Hurricane Irene's projected path. Flight schedules at Washington Reagan, Philadelphia International Airport, New York's LaGuardia, John F. Kennedy and Newark airports and Boston Logan, as well as other cities in the Northeast and mid-Atlantic, will be reduced as the airline works to ensure the safety of its customers, employees and equipment.Customers are strongly encouraged to check flight status at usairways.com or by texting their flight number to TEXTUS before arriving at the airport.

July 18: Equity Research on US Airways Group Inc. and Delta Air Lines Inc. -- Major Airlines Dealing With Negative Flyer Sentiment

[News Story] NEW YORK, NY -- (MARKET WIRE) -- 07/18/11 -- www.shinesrooms.com has a handpicked team of market professionals with over 100 years of combined investing experience. Today they are providing members comprehensive research on the Major Airlines industry and are offering free analytical research on US Airways Group Inc.(NYSE: LCC) and Delta Air Lines Inc.(NYSE: DAL).

June 21: US Airways Announces $388 Million Aircraft Financing

[News Story] TEMPE, Ariz.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- US Airways, Inc. ("US Airways" or the "Company"), a wholly-owned subsidiary of US Airways Group, Inc. (NYSE: LCC) ("US Airways Group"), announced today its intention to make an offering, subject to market and other conditions, of Class A and Class B enhanced equipment trust certificates (the "Certificates") in the aggregate principal amount of approximately $388 million.

April 05: US Airways Reports March Traffic Results

[News Story] http://www.nasdaq.com/aspx/company-news-story.aspxstoryid=201104050900bizwire_usprx____bw5660&title=us-airways-reports-march-traffic-results Source: NASDAQ Stock Exchange

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