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Best Airline Stocks to Buy Now (2026)

Top airline stocks in 2026 ranked by overall Zen Rating. "A" Rated stocks have returned an average of +32.52% per year, and are the best airline stocks to buy now. Learn More.

According to Zen Ratings, our proprietary rating system that evaluates 115 factors proven to drive growth in stocks and assigns each stock in our system an overall letter grade as well as 7 individual Component Grades for Value, Growth, Momentum, Sentiment, Safety, Financials, and proprietary AI algorithms, the 3 best airline stocks to buy right now are:

Latam Airlines Group Sa (NYSE:LTM) is the #1 top airline stock out of 18 with a Zen Rating of A. Stocks with a rating of A have had an average return of +32.52% per year. Learn more.

The Component Grade breakdown for Latam Airlines Group Sa (NYSE:LTM) is: Value: B, Growth: C, Momentum: B, Sentiment: B, Safety: B, Financials: B, and AI: A.

Latam Airlines Group Sa (NYSE:LTM) has a Due Diligence Score of 32, which is 2 points higher than the airline industry average of 30.

LTM passed 11 out of 33 due diligence checks and has average fundamentals. Latam Airlines Group Sa has seen its stock return 72.75% over the past year, overperforming other airline stocks by 51 percentage points.

Latam Airlines Group Sa has an average 1 year price target of $71.00, an upside of 26.42% from Latam Airlines Group Sa's current stock price of $56.16.

Latam Airlines Group Sa stock has a consensus Buy recommendation according to Wall Street analysts. Of the 2 analysts covering Latam Airlines Group Sa, 50% have issued a Strong Buy rating, 0% have issued a Buy, 50% have issued a hold, while 0% have issued a Sell rating, and 0% have issued a Strong Sell.

United Airlines Holdings (NASDAQ:UAL) is the #2 top airline stock out of 18 with a Zen Rating of B. Stocks with a rating of B have had an average return of +19.88% per year. Learn more.

The Component Grade breakdown for United Airlines Holdings (NASDAQ:UAL) is: Value: B, Growth: C, Momentum: C, Sentiment: C, Safety: B, Financials: C, and AI: C.

United Airlines Holdings (NASDAQ:UAL) has a Due Diligence Score of 59, which is 29 points higher than the airline industry average of 30.

UAL passed 19 out of 33 due diligence checks and has strong fundamentals. United Airlines Holdings has seen its stock return 15.33% over the past year, underperforming other airline stocks by -6 percentage points.

United Airlines Holdings has an average 1 year price target of $139.14, an upside of 30.9% from United Airlines Holdings's current stock price of $106.30.

United Airlines Holdings stock has a consensus Strong Buy recommendation according to Wall Street analysts. Of the 14 analysts covering United Airlines Holdings, 85.71% have issued a Strong Buy rating, 14.29% have issued a Buy, 0% have issued a hold, while 0% have issued a Sell rating, and 0% have issued a Strong Sell.

Southwest Airlines Co (NYSE:LUV) is the #3 top airline stock out of 18 with a Zen Rating of B. Stocks with a rating of B have had an average return of +19.88% per year. Learn more.

The Component Grade breakdown for Southwest Airlines Co (NYSE:LUV) is: Value: C, Growth: A, Momentum: C, Sentiment: C, Safety: C, Financials: C, and AI: C.

Southwest Airlines Co (NYSE:LUV) has a Due Diligence Score of 48, which is 18 points higher than the airline industry average of 30.

LUV passed 17 out of 38 due diligence checks and has strong fundamentals. Southwest Airlines Co has seen its stock return 60.77% over the past year, overperforming other airline stocks by 39 percentage points.

Southwest Airlines Co has an average 1 year price target of $50.03, an upside of 1.57% from Southwest Airlines Co's current stock price of $49.26.

Southwest Airlines Co stock has a consensus Buy recommendation according to Wall Street analysts. Of the 15 analysts covering Southwest Airlines Co, 33.33% have issued a Strong Buy rating, 6.67% have issued a Buy, 46.67% have issued a hold, while 6.67% have issued a Sell rating, and 6.67% have issued a Strong Sell.

Out of 3 airline stocks that have issued dividends in the past year, the 3 airline stocks with the highest dividend yields are:

Ryanair Holdings (NASDAQ:RYAAY) has an annual dividend yield of 1.46%, which is the same as the airline industry average of 1.24%. Ryanair Holdings's dividend payout is not stable, having dropped more than 10% one times in the last 10 years. Ryanair Holdings's dividend has shown consistent growth over the last 10 years.

Ryanair Holdings's dividend payout ratio of 37.5% indicates that its dividend yield is sustainable for the long-term.

Southwest Airlines Co (NYSE:LUV) has an annual dividend yield of 1.46%, which is the same as the airline industry average of 1.24%. Southwest Airlines Co's dividend payout is stable, having never dropped by more than 10% in the last 10 years. Southwest Airlines Co's dividend has shown consistent growth over the last 10 years.

Southwest Airlines Co's dividend payout ratio of 87.8% indicates that its dividend yield is sustainable for the long-term.

Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL) has an annual dividend yield of 0.8%, which is the same as the airline industry average of 1.24%. Delta Air Lines's dividend payout is not stable, having dropped more than 10% one times in the last 10 years. Delta Air Lines's dividend has shown consistent growth over the last 10 years.

Delta Air Lines's dividend payout ratio of 8.8% indicates that its dividend yield is sustainable for the long-term.

Airline stocks were down -5.23% in the last day, and down -2.94% over the last week.

We couldn't find a catalyst for why airline stocks are down.

Based on the Valuation rating, one of the 7 components of a stocks overall Zen Ratings grade, which evaluates factors including estimated earnings yield, earnings before interest and taxes/enterprise value, cash flow yield, free cash flow to price, and price-to-earnings growth (PEG ratio), the 3 most undervalued airline stocks right now are:

Copa Holdings Sa (NYSE:CPA) is the most undervalued airline stock based on its Valuation Rating of B. Valuation is one of 7 Component Grades used to calculate the overall Zen Rating.

Copa Holdings Sa has a valuation score of 71, which is 40 points higher than the airline industry average of 31. It passed 5 out of 7 valuation due diligence checks.

Copa Holdings Sa's stock has gained 49.57% in the past year. It has overperformed other stocks in the airline industry by 28 percentage points.

Grupo Aeromexico Sab De CV (NYSE:AERO) is the second most undervalued airline stock based on its Valuation Rating of B. Valuation is one of 7 Component Grades used to calculate the overall Zen Rating.

Grupo Aeromexico Sab De CV has a valuation score of 0, which is -31 points higher than the airline industry average of 31. It passed 0 out of 7 valuation due diligence checks. Although this number is below the industry average, our proven quant model rates AERO a Valuation Rating of "B".

United Airlines Holdings (NASDAQ:UAL) is the third most undervalued airline stock based on its Valuation Rating of B. Valuation is one of 7 Component Grades used to calculate the overall Zen Rating.

United Airlines Holdings has a valuation score of 100, which is 69 points higher than the airline industry average of 31. It passed 7 out of 7 valuation due diligence checks.

United Airlines Holdings's stock has gained 15.33% in the past year. It has underperformed other stocks in the airline industry by -6 percentage points.

40% of airline stocks rated by analysts are a strong buy right now. On average, analysts expect airline stocks to rise by 20.95% over the next year.

5.88% of airline stocks have a Zen Rating of A (Strong Buy), 23.53% of airline stocks are rated B (Buy), 47.06% are rated C (Hold), 23.53% are rated D (Sell), and 0% are rated F (Strong Sell).