Skywest Inc. said Friday it has reached agreement with the U.S. Treasury Department to receive $438 million under the Payroll Support Program as part of the CARES Act. Of the total, $337 million will be in the form of a direct grant and $101 million will be in the form of a 10-year loan. The agreement obligates the airline to issue warrants to the government for the purchase of 357,000 shares of common stock. "These funds will cover important payroll expenses as we work together with our people to provide critical air service during this difficult time, and prepare for when demand returns," said Chief Executive Chip Childs. The stock, which was still inactive in premarket trading, has tumbled 61% over the past three months, while the S&P 500 has lost 15%.

If you're interested in SkyWest, Inc. (NASDAQ:SKYW), then you might want to consider its beta (a measure of share...

It's been a pretty great week for SkyWest, Inc. (NASDAQ:SKYW) shareholders, with its shares surging 13% to US$29.45 in...

Shares of SkyWest Airlines (NASDAQ: SKYW) soared 18% higher on Friday after the airline posted a first-quarter profit. Airlines have been devastated by the COVID-19 pandemic, with most posting billions in losses in the quarter, but SkyWest's model allowed it to post positive numbers. After markets closed Thursday, SkyWest reported first-quarter earnings of $0.59 per share on revenue of $730 million.

As the operator indicated, this is Rob Simmons, Skywest's Chief Financial Officer. On the call with me today are Chip Childs, President and Chief Executive Officer; Wade Steel, Chief Commercial Officer; Eric Woodward, Chief Accounting Officer; and Mike Thompson, SkyWest Airlines' Chief Operating Officer.

Q1 2019 SkyWest Inc Earnings Call

SkyWest (SKYW) faces dwindling air-travel demand due to the COVID-19 pandemic. However, its liquidity position is impressive.

The latest analyst coverage could presage a bad day for SkyWest, Inc. (NASDAQ:SKYW), with the analysts making...

Shares of Skywest Incl rose 1.2% in premarket trading Monday, after last week's best weekly performance in 19 years, after the air carrier confirmed that it applied for payroll support grants under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act. The company said it has suspended future dividend and stock buybacks. Skywest's last quarterly dividend was 14 cents a share, paid in March. The company said that its April scheduled block-hour production is expected to be down 50% from its plan, with the number of completed flights "well off historic norms." May is expected to be down "slightly more" than April. The stock had rocketed 42.0% last week, its second-best weekly gain since the stock went public in 1986, behind only the 48.6% rally during the week ended Sept. 29, 2001. In comparison, the U.S. Global Jets ETF rallied 24.4% last week and the Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 12.7%.

SkyWest, Inc. (NASDAQ: SKYW) ("SkyWest") today announced that its wholly-owned subsidiary SkyWest Airlines has entered into a Payroll Support Program Agreement with the U.S. Treasury Department to receive a total of approximately $438 million under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act). Of the $438 million, approximately $337 million will be a direct grant and approximately $101 million will be in the form of a ten-year, low interest unsecured term loan. SkyWest has elected to receive the funds in four disbursements. In consideration for the funding, SkyWest will issue to the U.S. Treasury Department warrants to purchase approximately 357,000 shares of SkyWest common stock.

There’s a big debate now about whether Warren Buffett has “lost his touch.” While Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway (BRK)(BRK) booked substantial losses dumping airlines stocks in the late first-quarter weakness in the sector, insiders at close to half a dozen airlines bought lots of their stock — including the airlines Berkshire sold. In a direct challenge to the Oracle of Omaha, insiders racked up the kind of sector-wide buying I look for to support a bullish industry call in my stock newsletter Brush Up on Stocks.

Fall in air travel demand due to the COVID-19 outbreak hurts SkyWest's (SKYW) Q1 Earnings

Q1 2020 SkyWest Inc Earnings Call

First Quarter Highlights:

SkyWest is suspending dividend payments and stock buybacks and applied for federal payroll-support grants.

SkyWest (SKYW) doesn't possess the right combination of the two key ingredients for a likely earnings beat in its upcoming report. Get prepared with the key expectations.

SkyWest, Inc. (NASDAQ: SKYW) ("SkyWest") announced today that its upcoming 2020 Annual Meeting of Shareholders (the "Annual Meeting") will now be held in a virtual-only meeting format. The Annual Meeting will be held at the originally scheduled date and time on May 5, 2020 at 10:00 a.m., Mountain Daylight Time.

With air-travel touching a nadir, March traffic statistics of the likes of LATAM Airlines (LTM) and Hawaiian Holdings' (HA) subsidiary Hawaiian Airlines show a massive decline.

Shrinking passenger revenues ail the Q1 earnings performance of carriers like JetBlue (JBLU) and Spirit Airlines (SAVE).

Perhaps the sector that has taken the biggest hit due to the novel coronavirus is the travel industry, and airlines like Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL) stock.Source: NextNewMedia / Shutterstock.com Even the industry's bigwigs are struggling to maintain a positive outlook. In an interview conducted on May 12 on NBC, Boeing (NYSE:BA) CEO Dave Calhoun warned that it might take three to five years before the industry recovers to pre-pandemic levels, and at least one major airline could go out of business by the end of this year.Nevertheless, if there were is one airline that you would bet to bounce back, it would be Delta. The company has an innovator in the industry by revamping its pricing model and investing in foreign companies to provide a cost-effective solution to their domestic needs.InvestorPlace - Stock Market News, Stock Advice & Trading Tips * 7 Excellent Penny Stocks Ready to RoarDelta and Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) are the industry's creme de la creme, outpacing the competition in generating healthy profits and free cash flows consistently. I think that Delta will survive this crisis and come out of this stronger because of its proactive approach towards controlling the situation.Let's take a closer look at some of these reasons: Delta Is Cutting CostsEvery airline company is looking to downsize; Delta is no different. The company is looking to reduce its costs by 50% by the second quarter. The reductions are likely to result in $5 billion in savings, which should be enough to offset the $200 million in unplanned expenses due to the pandemic.It also scaled back on its capital expenditures by $3 billion and is suspending its stock repurchase program and future dividend payments.Apart from this, the company announced that it would be parking 650 planes and instituting a company-wide hiring freeze along with voluntary leaves for its employees. Executive management will also be taking it on the chin by accepting significant pay reductions in the upcoming quarters.To provide further cushion, Delta is receiving $5.4 billion as part of the government's CARES Act, a $50 billion relief program specifically for the airline sector. It includes $3.8 billion for direct relief and another $1.6 billion low-interest, unsecured 10-year loan. Delta has already received $2.7 billion of funds and expects the rest in the next three months.Equity dilution due to the stock warrants offered to the governments is negligible, worth 1% of Delta stock at $24.39 per share over five years. Furthermore, the company can also get a hold of an additional $4.6 billion in secured loans, which it hasn't applied for as yet.Delta's management has disclosed a liquidity target of $10 billion for the second quarter, an increase of 66% from the previous quarter. These efforts are likely to reduce the cash burn by at least $50 million by the second quarter, which was at $100 million in the first. A Focus on the Long TermWith operations at a halt, Delta is making the most of this opportunity to focus its efforts on its long-term plays. The first area that the company is looking at involves fleet simplification, which has been one of its long-term goals for quite some time now.At its investor day last December, management talked about capitalizing on a massive opportunity to move from a mishmash fleet to one that is simpler and optimized. CEO Ed Bastian talked about this fleet transportation in the first-quarter earnings call, where he said, "Well, certainly anything that was scheduled to retire over the next five years [is on] an accelerated path towards retirement."The company will be retiring the last of its 76 MD-88s and MD-90s in early June. Its regional partner SkyWest (NASDAQ:SKYW), announced that Delta would not be renewing its flying contracts for 55 of its CRJ-200s. Additionally, it also plans to retire a few of its older Boeing 757s and 767s.These optimizations are likely to simplify operations, reduce schedule constraints, limit the frequency of training evens, and reduce fuel and maintenance costs.Another one of the company's long-term plays its critical airport infrastructure projects. The executives believe that the pandemic will speed up the construction process due to fewer constraints. With air travel muted for the foreseeable future, and if Delta gets a waiver under the revised slot usage rules, it could reduce its construction costs and streamline project timelines.The reduced project costs will directly benefit the company in controlling its debt burden. Shorter project timelines will benefit the company through dual taxiways, and the increased gate flexibility will serve mainline and regional jets. DAL Stock at a GlanceLike all airline stocks, DAL stock witnessed a massive dip in its share price since last year. It shed approximately 67% of its value since December and has been on a predominantly negative streak since then.Analysts have a relatively neutral earnings rating for the stock considering how to beat its first-quarter EPS beat estimates by 26.7%. Furthermore, they feel that the EPS will worsen in the second quarter to -$4.39 but will recover -$1.76 in the third quarter.Price targets for the DAL stock suggest shares are trading at a 40% bargain to the current share price of $23. However, the difference between the high and low estimates is $26, which is a testament to the volatility of the stock in these uncertain times. The Bottom Line on DAL StockThe coronavirus pandemic pulverized the Delta airlines stock, but it seems to have the best recovery plan compared to its competitors. It has enough liquidity to see off the crisis, and its cost-saving efforts have controlled its cash burn rate.The company is using this time to aggressively pursue its long-term plays, which will bear fruit in the near future. Therefore, despite the slowdown, DAL stock is still a buy.As of this writing, Muslim Farooque did not hold a position in any of the securities mentioned above. More From InvestorPlace * Top Stock Picker Reveals His Next 1,000% Winner * America's Richest ZIP Code Holds Shocking Secret * 1 Under-the-Radar 5G Stock to Buy Now * The 1 Stock All Retirees Must Own The post Delta Stock Is Ready to Sail Through Coronavirus Clouds appeared first on InvestorPlace.