Alaska Air Group Value Stock - Dividend - Research Selection

Air Group operates Alaska, Virgin America and Horizon Air. We completed the acquisition of Virgin America on December 14, 2016, at which time Virgin America became our wholly-owned subsidiary. Together with our regional partner airlines, we fly to 118 destinations with nearly 1,200 daily departures through our expansive network across the United States, Mexico, Canada, Costa Rica and Cuba. With our global airline partners, we can provide our guests with a virtual network of more than 900 destinations worldwide. During 2016, we carried an all-time high 34 million guests and earned adjusted net income of $911 million, which includes operating and financial results for Virgin America for the period December 14, 2016 through December 31, 2016, and excludes pretax special items and merger-related costs of $117 million.

Our acquisition of Virgin America positions us as the fifth largest airline in the U.S., with an unparalleled ability to serve West Coast travelers. Virgin America provides a platform for growth of our low-fare, premium product providing a powerful West Coast network for our guests as well as enhanced international partnerships. Additionally, Virgin America provides an opportunity to grow and improve our loyalty program while gaining access to constrained gates, particularly on the East Coast. The combined company now provides more seats from the West Coast than any other carrier, allowing us to serve our guests better.

Our mission is "creating an airline people love." The "ing" is to recognize we are never done—we are continually working to get better. We believe our success depends on our ability to provide safe air transportation, develop relationships with guests by providing exceptional customer service and low fares, and maintain a low cost structure to compete effectively. It is important to us that we achieve our objective as a socially responsible company that values not just our performance, but also our people, our community and our environment.

While aircraft and technology enable us to provide air transportation, we recognize this is fundamentally a people business. Our employees maintain and strengthen our relationships with guests, and our success depends on our employees working together to successfully execute our strategy. In 2016, Alaska was once again named one of America's Best Employers by Forbes Magazine. We know that engaged employees provide excellent service. In that vein, in 2016, Alaska ranked highest in customer satisfaction among traditional network carriers by J.D. Power and Associates for the ninth year in a row and Virgin America was recognized for excellent service by Conde Nast Traveler and Travel + Leisure magazine also for the ninth year in a row. Customer service matters, and we believe the combination of our airlines will only enhance the experience for our guests.

Operationally, Alaska has held the No. 1 spot in the Wall Street Journal's "Middle Seat" scorecard for U.S. airlines for four consecutive years. We have been the leader in the industry for on-time performance among major airlines for the past seven years. For achieving safety, customer service, operational and financial goals, we rewarded our employees with a record $127 million in incentive pay during 2016. Including incentives earned during the year prior to the acquisition by Virgin America employees, the total is $159 million.

In support of the communities that we serve, we strive to be an industry leader in environmental and community stewardship. In 2016, we improved fuel efficiency by 1.4% from the prior year, as measured by available seat miles flown per gallon. We also flew the first two commercial flights using sustainable alcohol-to-jet biofuel made from U.S. grown corn and alternative jet fuel made from forest residuals, highlighting our commitment to environmental stewardship. Our combined fleet is one of the youngest, most fuel-efficient fleets in North America and we look forward to further enhancements in this area. Air Group donated $13 million to over 1,300 charitable organizations and our employees volunteered more than 27,000 hours of community service. Virgin America has also been active in community service and charitable giving. Our efforts focus on youth and education, medical research and transportation and community outreach. One of our leadership principals is to "give back" and we are proud of the efforts and volunteerism of our employees across the system.

We earned record financial results in 2016, marking our 13th consecutive annual profit on an adjusted basis. We achieved an after-tax return on invested capital of 21.3%, well above our weighted average cost of capital. Although we incurred a significant amount of new debt in 2016 to fund the Virgin America acquisition, our liquidity and capital position still remain strong and are among those of high-quality industrial companies. Due to our strong financial health and outlook, we are one of only three U.S. airlines with investment grade credit ratings. With the cash generated by the continued success we have had in the past decade, we have been able to invest in our business to achieve profitable growth and to enhance the customer experience. Most recently, we launched our Premium Class service on our Boeing 737 aircraft, which includes more legroom, early boarding, free cocktails and premium snacks.

As we look to the future, we will build on our success by executing our strategic plan in the following areas:

Be Safe and On time

We have an unwavering commitment to run a safe and compliant operation, and we will not compromise this commitment in the pursuit of other initiatives. Alaska and Horizon were the first U.S. major airlines to receive Federal Aviation Administration ("FAA") validation and acceptance of our Safety Management System ("SMS") in the third quarter of 2016. SMS helps identify and manage risk and builds a sustainable culture of safety for Air Group employees. We have an initiative to add Virgin America to the SMS program in 2017. Once again, for 2016, 100% of our Alaska and Horizon aircraft technicians completed the requirements for the FAA's "Diamond Certificate of Excellence" award. This is the 15th consecutive year Alaska Airlines has received the award and the 15th time in the last 17 years for Horizon. We also believe that maintaining safe and compliant operations, through adherence to well defined processes and ensuring every Air Group employee is aware of their individual contribution to our operation, is critical to ensuring on-time performance. The rigor we apply to running a safe and compliant operation has resulted in Alaska being named the No. 1 on-time carrier in North America for the seventh year in a row by FlightStats.

Focus on People

Our success depends on our people. Higher employee engagement drives higher productivity, superior execution and better customer service, which is why we listen to our employees for feedback in shaping our strategy. Employee engagement scores from our annual employee survey are at historical highs. We have designed customer-service workshops and leadership training that cover virtually all employees and do these on an ongoing basis. As we integrate Alaska and Virgin America, in January 2017 we rolled out "Momentum" training for all Virgin America employees to help bridge the two airlines and blend our cultures. For our Horizon employees, we are conducting "QX Factor," a program with the goal of improving culture, engagement and communication.

We understand that aligning our employees' goals with Air Group's goals is important in achieving success. The majority of Air Group employees, including Virgin America employees starting in 2017, participate in our Performance-Based Pay ("PBP") and Operational Performance Rewards ("OPR") programs, which encourage employees to work together to achieve metrics related to safety, profitability, on-time performance, low costs and customer loyalty and satisfaction. Over the last five years, our incentive programs have paid out on average, over 8.7% of annual pay, or more than one month's pay, for most employees.

Build a deep emotional connection for our brand

We want to be recognized as the preferred airline to fly for people living on the West Coast. In January 2016, we introduced a bold new brand expression, including an updated identity, livery, and look and feel for our digital and physical experiences. In January 2017, subsequent to year end, we were the first airline to launch Free Chat—a feature that allows our guests to text for free in-flight. We believe there is an opportunity to deepen the emotional connection with our guests as we continue to expand and grow. Our updated brand expression draws upon our rich heritage while infusing it with additional warmth and energy to better reflect how guests feel about our brand and the great service that we pride ourselves in delivering.

We continue to invest in a better customer experience. Onboard, guests will continue to enjoy more of what they love with free and premium entertainment direct to their devices, Pacific Northwest-inspired food and beverages, custom leather seats with power outlets at every seat and larger overhead bins for carry-on bags. As mentioned previously, we have also recently launched our new Premium Class section in the main cabin with increased legroom and other amenities and improved our First Class with five additional inches of leg room.

Defend and grow our customer base

The merger with Virgin America provides an amazing opportunity for our new Alaska Air Group. We have a network that provides unparalleled utility and options for our guests living on the West Coast. Competition in our markets is fierce and we know we must defend our customer base as we use our combined network as an opportunity to grow that base. We will be introducing new guests to our award-winning service, Mileage Plan™ program, and affinity credit card as we grow our network. Guests from our airlines already benefit from codeshare and reciprocal frequent flyer benefits, including earning and redeeming rewards on both carriers. Elite members of the Virgin America Elevate® program and Alaska's Mileage Plan™ also receive priority boarding on both carriers. We work hard to ensure our guests have a great experience on our airlines and are provided an exceptional product at a low fare.

Win with low costs and low fares

We believe that our low-fare model gives us a competitive advantage by providing value to and building trust with our guests. We also know that, in order to provide low fares in our growing network, while returning value to our shareholders, it is imperative for us to maintain a competitive cost structure. In 2016, we lowered our unit costs, excluding fuel, by 0.8% on a consolidated basis, representing the seventh consecutive year of annual reduction. We achieved this through a continued focus on productivity, cost management, and by leveraging capacity growth. We increased employee productivity in 2016 and will continue to focus on that metric as we grow. We also manage fuel costs by flying larger, more fuel-efficient aircraft, which have increased our fuel efficiency as measured by available seat miles flown per gallon by 7.0% over the last five years. As we integrate Virgin America into our operations, we are committed to achieving our stated cost and revenue synergy goals. It is critical that we achieve these goals in order to continue our cost reduction efforts.

During fiscal 2016, we added 17 new markets to the combined network. For 2017, we plan to grow our system-wide capacity approximately 8.5% as compared to the full year 2016 combined capacity of Air Group and Virgin America.