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.
FOMO, or the fear of missing out, also plays a role in investing, particularly 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 requires research, patience, and a little bit of risk. So, if you had invested in SkyWest, ten years ago, you're likely feeling pretty good about your investment today.
According to our calculations, a $1000 investment made in February 2016 would be worth $6,224.86, or a gain of 522.49%, as of February 26, 2026, and this return excludes dividends but includes price increases.
Compare this to the S&P 500's rally of 255.90% and gold's return of 303.87% over the same time frame.
Analysts are forecasting more upside for SKYW too.
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, boost investor confidence and positively impacts the bottom line. On the flip side total operating expenses increased 7.1% year over year to $3.03 billion in 2024. In the fourth quarter of 2025, the operating expenses were $890.3 million, up 11.2% from the year-ago quarter.Considering all these factors, we advise investors to wait for a better entry point and not buy SKYW now. For those who already own, it will be prudent to stay invested.Our thesis is supported by our Neutral recommendation.
Shares have gained 10.47% over the past four weeks and there have been 3 higher earnings estimate revisions for fiscal 2026 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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