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Frontier Airlines Airbus A320neo
(Nicolas Economou/Getty Images)

Frontier takes off in the wake of Spirit’s second bankruptcy filing

Deutsche Bank said Frontier is the big winner of Spirit’s collapse, sending its shares up and those of its rivals downward.

The skies are looking a bit more blue today for Frontier Airlines.

The low-cost carrier stands to benefit the most from Friday’s fresh bankruptcy filing by its budget rival Spirit Airlines, according to a recent note from Deutsche Bank. Deutsche Bank upgraded Frontier’s rating to “buy” from “hold” following the news, with analyst Michael Linenberg noting that more than a third of Frontier’s network overlaps with Spirit’s in the current quarter.

Frontier shares were up as much as 20% in Tuesday morning trading. Shares of budget flying rival JetBlue were up 2% in recent trading.

The whole ordeal is a cheaper way for Frontier to achieve its long-standing mission of eliminating competition from Spirit. Frontier has unsuccessfully tried to acquire the carrier twice since 2022 — a failed merger that would have created the US’s fifth-largest airline. Now, Frontier will have even more opportunity to eat Spirit’s market share, without the need to get approval from antitrust regulators.

Last week, Frontier said it would launch 20 new routes this winter. Many of those will be in Spirit’s major markets.

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SpaceX gets a wave of bullish ratings from Wall Street analysts

SpaceX received more than a dozen positive analyst calls on Tuesday — including from major Wall Street banks — as they initiate coverage on Elon Musk’s space and AI company.

SpaceX went public on June 12 at a $2.2 trillion valuation, the largest debut in history. While the company hasn’t yet posted a profit, it seems to have convinced Wall Street that it will get there and grow its valuation on the way.

Of the at least 17 analysts that gave a rating on Tuesday, all but one gave it a “buy” or “outperform” rating. MoffettNathanson was "neutral."

The ratings come as SpaceX joined the Nasdaq 100 index, a benchmark tech-heavy basket of companies that underpins millions of portfolios. The inclusion adds built-in demand for the stock from index funds and ETFs.

Still, SpaceX fell more than 5% on Tuesday amid a broader sell-off, and is currently effectively flat from its opening price of $150 a share.

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Nike sinks to lowest level since 2014 after warning of “challenged” sales environment in Q4 report

Did Nike do it?

Investors had a mixed reaction after the global sports apparel company reported its fourth quarter earnings on Tuesday after the bell. Shares initially rose 5% as Nike beat out Wall Street expectations amid a hefty tariff refund bonus. However, the stock then sank to its lowest level since August 2014 in postmarket trading.

Here are the Q4 numbers:

  • Revenue of $11.0 billion (estimate: $10.8 billion).

  • Adjusted earnings per share of $0.20 (estimate: $0.12).

Ahead of this report, Nike warned that results would be flattered by a one-time tariff refund (now estimated at roughly $0.52 per share for the bottom line). That gave the company an extra cushion in snapping its streak of seven quarters of year-over-year profit declines.

Over the past year, the company had been punished by tariffs on imported goods, stagnant consumer spending, and increasing competition from other footwear brands like New Balance, Adidas, and Hoka.

Outgoing CFO Matthew Friend deemed it an “increasingly challenging operating environment, where sell-through remains challenged.”

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