For most investors, how much a stock's price changes over time is important. This factor can impact your investment portfolio as well as help you compare investment results across sectors and industries.
Another factor that can influence investors is FOMO, or the fear of missing out, especially with tech giants and popular consumer-facing stocks.
What if you'd invested in SkyWest (SKYW) ten years ago? It may not have been easy to hold on to SKYW for all that time, but if you did, how much would your investment be worth today?
SkyWest's Business In-Depth
With that in mind, let's take a look at SkyWest's main business drivers.
SkyWest, founded in 1972, is based in St. George, UT and operates as a regional airline in the United States through its subsidiary SkyWest Airlines.
SkyWest is also the holding company of an aircraft leasing company. In January 2019, SkyWest completed the sale of its erstwhile subsidiary, ExpressJet Airlines, to United Airlines joint venture — ManaAir LLC.
SkyWest Airlines offers high-quality regional service to airports located primarily in the Midwestern and Western United States as well as Mexico and Canada. The carrier primarily operates from Chicago (O’Hare), Denver, Houston, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, Phoenix, Salt Lake City, San Francisco and Seattle airports.
Offering scheduled regional airline service under code-share agreements (a deal between airlines allowing them to use each other’s codes on flights among other things) with its airline partners, forms the basis of the company’s operating model. On a daily basis, SkyWest is responsible for operating more than 2,100 flights to multiple destinations in North America.
SkyWest provides regional operations to its major airline partners under long-term, fixed-fee, code-share agreements. The company has codeshare agreements with key airline players like Delta Air Lines, American Airlines, United and Alaska Airlines.
The fixed-fee agreement with these companies obligate the respective major airline partner to refund the amount of fuel costs SkyWest incurs under those agreements.
Under the prorate agreements with Delta, United Airlines, and American Airlines, SkyWest is liable to cover the costs including fuel expenses of operating the concerned flights. Going by historical evidence, these multiple agreements consisting of a mix of fixed-fee and prorate flying arrangements should bolster the company’s operating results.
In 2024, 96.7% of the company's operating revenues of $3.41 billion came from flying agreements. The rest came from airport customer services and others. As of December 31, 2024, SKYW had a total of 492 aircraft in scheduled service or under contract (which includes 262 E175s, 36 CRJ900s, 119 CRJ700s and 75 CRJ200s in its fleet).
Bottom Line
Anyone can invest, but building a successful investment portfolio takes a combination of a few things: research, patience, and a little bit of risk. So, if you had invested in SkyWest a decade ago, you're probably feeling pretty good about your investment today.
A $1000 investment made in November 2015 would be worth $4,845.38, or a 384.54% gain, as of November 28, 2025, according to our calculations. Investors should note that this return excludes dividends but includes price increases.
In comparison, the S&P 500's gained 225.95% and the price of gold went up 278.39% over the same time frame.
Going forward, analysts are expecting more upside for SKYW.
SkyWest's fleet-modernization efforts are commendable. In a bid to modernize its fleet, SKYW has fleet-related agreements with airline heavyweights like United Airlines, Delta Air Lines and Alaska Airlines. By 2028-end, SKYW is scheduled to have nearly 300 E175 aircraft.SKYW's shareholder-friendly initiatives to reward shareholders with share repurchases boost investor confidence and positively impacts the bottom line. The positive sentiment surrounding the stock is evident from the fact that the Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2025 earnings has been raised in the past 90 days. We believe that the positives surrounding SKYW stock outweigh the concerns of higher operating expenses, macro-economic uncertainty and pilot shortages. We therefore encourage investors to add SKYW stock to their portfolios for healthy returns. Our
Shares have gained 6.41% over the past four weeks and there have been 3 higher earnings estimate revisions for fiscal 2025 compared to none lower. The consensus estimate has moved up as well.
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SkyWest, Inc. (SKYW): Free Stock Analysis ReportThis article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).
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