United Airlines: TD reiterates Buy, raises PT on strong earnings, outlook

Investing.com– TD Cowen reiterated its Buy rating on United Airlines Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:UAL), while also raising its price target on the stock on positive fourth quarter earnings, which further underpinned a strong outlook for 2025. 

TD raised its price target on UAL to $165.0 from $142.0, and reiterated its Buy rating. The new PT represents an upside of 60% from UAL’s Thursday close.

UAL clocked stronger-than-expected earnings for the December quarter, and also presented above-consensus guidance for the current quarter. The airline flagged strong and broad-based demand for travel across all its geographies, and also noted improvement in corporate travel. 

TD analysts said they were impressed by the company’s earnings call, which in turn furthered its status as one of the brokerage’s “best idea(s)” for 2025. 

The brokerage said UAL is “ideally positioned to capitalize on current industry dynamic” with investments in luxury travel, which is becoming a major margin driver for the travel industry. 

TD expects UAL’s benefits from investments to “pick up materially” in 2026 and 2027, both on aircraft and operations. The brokerage also noted UAL’s installation of satellite internet through StarLink across its fleets, as well as its investing in advertising platform Kinective Media as major differentiators for its business. 

UAL has been a standout among airline stocks, as the company capitalized on a post-COVID recovery in travel demand, while leaning more into increasing demand for luxury.