In the latest trading session, American Airlines (AAL) closed at $18.32, marking a +1.22% move from the previous day. This change outpaced the S&P 500's 0.2% loss on the day. At the same time, the Dow lost 0.38%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq lost 9.78%.

Heading into today, shares of the world's largest airline had gained 21.23% over the past month, outpacing the Transportation sector's gain of 10.25% and the S&P 500's gain of 4.16% in that time.

Wall Street will be looking for positivity from American Airlines as it approaches its next earnings report date. In that report, analysts expect American Airlines to post earnings of $1.53 per share. This would mark year-over-year growth of 101.32%. Our most recent consensus estimate is calling for quarterly revenue of $13.72 billion, up 2.2% from the year-ago period.

AAL's full-year Zacks Consensus Estimates are calling for earnings of $2.98 per share and revenue of $52.96 billion. These results would represent year-over-year changes of +496% and +8.15%, respectively.

Any recent changes to analyst estimates for American Airlines should also be noted by investors. These revisions help to show the ever-changing nature of near-term business trends. With this in mind, we can consider positive estimate revisions a sign of optimism about the company's business outlook.

Our research shows that these estimate changes are directly correlated with near-term stock prices. Investors can capitalize on this by using the Zacks Rank. This model considers these estimate changes and provides a simple, actionable rating system.

The Zacks Rank system, which ranges from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), has an impressive outside-audited track record of outperformance, with #1 stocks generating an average annual return of +25% since 1988. Over the past month, the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has moved 7.07% higher. American Airlines is currently a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).

Valuation is also important, so investors should note that American Airlines has a Forward P/E ratio of 6.07 right now. For comparison, its industry has an average Forward P/E of 11.91, which means American Airlines is trading at a discount to the group.

The Transportation - Airline industry is part of the Transportation sector. This industry currently has a Zacks Industry Rank of 71, which puts it in the top 29% of all 250+ industries.

The Zacks Industry Rank gauges the strength of our industry groups by measuring the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks within the groups. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.

Source: finance.yahoo.com