Spirit Airlines Inc (NYSE: SAVE) has become a nightmare from which investors cannot seem to awaken.
Shares of the ultra-low-cost airline tanked another 40% this morning on reports that it is considering filing for bankruptcy.
SAVE first tried to restructure its balance sheet but its recent discussions have been related more to a Chapter 11 filing, as per sources who talked to the Wall Street Journal today on condition of anonymity.
Spirit Airlines stock was worth over $16 at the start of this year versus $1.40 only at the time of writing.
Spirit Airlines needed JetBlue to survive
Spirit Airlines started this year with hopes that it will merge with JetBlue Airways Corporation (NASDAQ: JBLU) to become the fifth largest US airline.
However, the dream fell apart quickly after a federal ruling that such a merger would hurt competition and price-conscious air travelers.
Failure to come together with JetBlue followed weak sales and a string of losses that left SAVE all alone to deal with $3.3 billion in debt.
The WSJ report confirms that the said merger may have been about expansion for JBLU but it was a matter of life and death for Spirit Airlines.
Nonetheless, the Florida-based air carrier is yet to confirm that it’s indeed considering filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
Even before today’s report, none of the Wall Street analysts had a “buy” rating on shares of Spirit Airlines Inc.
Does SAVE bankruptcy make JBLU more attractive?
Spirit Airlines has $1.1 billion in secured bonds due in less than a year.
The WSJ report is particularly significant since Ted Christie – the chief executive of Spirit Airlines had dismissed fears of bankruptcy in June, saying he had immense confidence in the company’s “Plan B” after the collapse of the JetBlue deal.
But shares continued to tumble in recent months as SAVE failed to turn a profit and even warned of a steeper loss in Q3 due to “intense competitive battle”. A problem with Pratt & Whitney engines also pushed it into grounding several of its Airbus planes.
Shares of peers JetBlue Airways and Frontier Airlines are in the green at writing as the bane of SAVE could mean more business and increased market share for the other budget air carriers.
However, it’s worth mentioning that both JBLU and ULLC are only “hold” rated stocks at writing. Both of them are currently going for a price that exceeds the average price objective of the Wall Street analysts as well.
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