Date to start paying owners

[poke-her player]

does westjet have expantion plans beyond their current order or are they going to pay down their debt and start paying thier owners.

[jjj]

This ought to be good.
I had my wee wee slapped earlier this weekend by the mods so I'm gonna defer this thread to my colleagues.

[McDoo the Irish Navigator]

I'm not sure what you are getting at, but I can assure you that Westjet's debt is quite manageable and our owners are handsomely compensated. I don't have the details here in my house early this Sunday morning, but sapy scales, aircraft orders, and debt are all public knowledge. Start with the annual report.

[twinpratts]

Here fishy fishy...

(this post is in the same realm of 'So, have you stopped beating your wife yet?')

[Donald]

If you review the OP's other posts on this site, you get the impression it's a 12-14 yr old posting from mom's basement.

[poke-her player]

I'm talking about dividends for share holders. yes I do realize employees are owners too and do recive salaries, Profit share, and ESP. I'm talking about the guy who gave WS $3000 during the IPO and while the share price has done well, he has seen nothing for how many years. The question had nothing to do with the debt/equity ratio, it has everything to do with the transition from a Growth company to a mature company. the reason I bring up debt and dividends are, warren buffet uses those as major factors in deciding which companies to buy into among 2 or 3 other indicators.

as for the negative remarks about my previouse post. I belive that reveals more about your insecurity than anything about me. As for my other remarks, there is nothing that I've said on this board that I wouldn't be afraid to say to anyone face to face. send me a PM if you care to meet and discuse my comments further.

[Red1]

The problem is once you start paying dividends you can't stop, with out some pretty rough consequences on your stock prices. Now is not the time to be pissing away money by paying dividends. If there is another hick up in the economy or H1N1 scares enough people to stop traveling, you can eat up a lot of cash fast. There are a still few more growth years ahead left at Westjet, no point on paying dividends until the slow song starts.

[Realitychex]

I'm talking about dividends for share holders. yes I do realize employees are owners too and do recive salaries, Profit share, and ESP. I'm talking about the guy who gave WS $3000 during the IPO and while the share price has done well, he has seen nothing for how many years. The question had nothing to do with the debt/equity ratio, it has everything to do with the transition from a Growth company to a mature company. the reason I bring up debt and dividends are, warren buffet uses those as major factors in deciding which companies to buy into among 2 or 3 other indicators.

as for the negative remarks about my previouse post. I belive that reveals more about your insecurity than anything about me. As for my other remarks, there is nothing that I've said on this board that I wouldn't be afraid to say to anyone face to face. send me a PM if you care to meet and discuse my comments further.

If you paid $3,000 at the IPO, you bought 300 shares at $10 a pop.

Junior has forgotten about the three (3-2) splits that have occured in WJ's history.

Those 300 shares would be worth $11,441 today. At their peak, they were worth about $23,000, about 2 years ago.

If you missed that peak, you were asleep at the wheel.

[WetJet]

If you missed that peak, you were asleep at the wheel.

Asleep at the wheel?

Yeah, cause you called the top of the market two years ago and were preaching that it's only downhill from here!

[Realitychex]

Airline stocks are notoriously cyclical.

There are folks out there that have been quietly accumulating over the past 24 months.

[A330]

Speaking earlier of Warren Buffett, when he thinks about buying an airline stock, he apparently has a recording of his own voice reminding himself why not to buy an airline stock !

Having said this, i would look seriously at WJA sub $10 D

[RidersRule]

Here's a question,

if you wanted to start a serious conversation about dividend paying stock, why didn't you put that in your first post. that would be too simple i guess.

Go Green

[poke-her player]

if you wanted to start a serious conversation about dividend paying stock

because the conversation was a prelude to a conversation to a dividend paying stock.

I was more interested in expantion plans beyond the current order of aircraft. as we sit now their is still 5-7 years of internal investment required untill WS can start paying dividends, With futher expanstion you can add a decade to that number.

[Herc_Driver]

I didn't think WJA stock was a dividend paying stock.

[Smitty]

Is Air Canada paying any dividends??

Are they a growth stock??

Isn't their new stock issue proving a hard sell??

I sure don't see many North American airlines paying a dividend. Why should Westjet?

[invertedattitude]

Are all of WestJet owners "Handsomely Compensated" ?

[CanadaEH]

There are folks out there that have been quietly accumulating over the past 24 months.

Ya, the peaks of $12 and the valley of $10. Westjet's shares have been dead in the water for quite some time. Investing in Westjet is NOTHING like it used to be or will ever be. Those that gambled with their futures were compensated very well at the very beginning and those that joined when the company was stable and successful, well, times ain't what they used to be.

[rudder]

Ya, the peaks of $12 and the valley of $10. Westjet's shares have been dead in the water for quite some time. Investing in Westjet is NOTHING like it used to be or will ever be. Those that gambled with their futures were compensated very well at the very beginning and those that joined when the company was stable and successful, well, times ain't what they used to be.

Just like the story at SWA. And now for the first time in their history SWA is seeing contraction and downgrades. Anybody that believes that growth, promotions, and ever climbing stock prices are endless is delusional. WJ is closer than many will admit to maturity in the life cycle of an airline.

[stickontheice]

Not sure if I agree with you Rudder. You're comparing apples and oranges. Several markets left to explore and several more airplanes coming. WestJet has lots of aces up its sleeves including the loyalty program, code share agreements, getting a feeder system into place i.e. smaller aircraft, and of course the ever persistent rumours of the 787s or some other type of heavy.

We're at the end of the recession. The airline industry is a lagging indicator, the company made money throughout the arguably worst recession since the War, and our stock is sitting at $11. What happens when the good times return and they will? Doubt you'll ever see dividends but is a $15 - $20 stock price out of the question? I don't think that's an unreasonable target at all.

I read the WJ bashing, chuckle to myself, and think I'm glad to be here than anywhere else right now.

[_dwj_]

I agree with stickontheice - I have recently invested about $30k in WJ because it is such a bargain right now. The fact that the stock hasn't been moving recently doesn't matter. If you follow the herd and just buy stocks that are going up, you'll probably end up buying something that is overpriced and will drop. You need to look at the fundamentals.

Currently WJ has a P/E of 9.92, and if they make the same profit they made in 2007 they will have a P/E of 7.25! And most likely they will make a lot more profit than in 2007 because they have grown since then. With a P/E of 7.25 that means that if they started paying out 50% of their profits as dividends you would get a yield of 6.7%.

Also remember that they are the only large airline in Canada that still made a profit during the recent recession.

Buying this stock is a no-brainer. You're very unlikely to lose your money because it is in such a good financial position, and once the recovery starts you will make a lot of money because the market will realise that the stock is undervalued and the price will jump when all the sheep get on board again.

[KAG]

The stock market is driven by greed, and fear. At some point the fear will subside. And yes were handsomely compensated. Even at flatline, we make 100% return on investment on our ESP. Options tank, but what odds. The days of overnight millionairs are over, but even with a flatline stock, there's still lots of money to be made.

[rightseatwonder]

The stock market is driven by greed, and fear. At some point the fear will subside. And yes were handsomely compensated. Even at flatline, we make 100% return on investment on our ESP. Options tank, but what odds. The days of overnight millionairs are over, but even with a flatline stock, there's still lots of money to be made.

This is one thing I've been thinking about, and im ignorant on these subjects......But as a taxable benefit (ESP matched dollar for dollar), wouldn't the stock price have to increase the same amount to break even?
Aren't after tax dollars buying these shares?

[Jastapilot]

As far as my figuring, if the stock drops 30% year over year, that's my break even. Taxes included in the calculation.

[sarg]

Just a question, because I'm too lazy to look myself, is there any publicly traded airline anywhere in the world paying dividends?

[rightseatwonder]

As far as my figuring, if the stock drops 30% year over year, that's my break even. Taxes included in the calculation.

could you explain? PM if you wish, im just trying to figure it out myself. Also did you include a inflation figure in that?
cheers,
RSW