I continue to be in awe of how well Allegiant Travel (ALGT) is doing - having monopoly status on almost all their routes sure helps! $140 oil does not knock them out, a contracting Las Vegas visitation situation does not knock them out, a bad economy for consumer discretionary does not knock them out. As we wrote in our weekly summary they already preannounced last week that they would beat the number so no surprise but the individual metrics continue to impress even as we look beyond the top line figures of revenue and earnings. I was hoping for some sort of sell the news reaction today - nothing. Even here after this huge run, it is still cheap barring a massive jump in crude oil. $4.50 seems doable at this time for 2009 - if the green shoot theorists are correct and people start criss crossing the country with their new found house ATMs - it could even get better from there.*

*note: green shoots are hazardous for your portfolio

Revenue up 7%, operating margin up a massive 20.5% ($140 oil versus $40 oil sure helps), operating income up 210%

EPS $1.37 , up 200% year over year (analysts were at $1.20 and then bumped it up to $1.26 after last week's "guide up")

Ticket prices down but ancillary revenue up, almost offsetting each other

Load factor up 4% year over year (more full planes = more dollars) to over 90%

They are even buying back shares...full report here

• "The first quarter was superb, with an all-time high 31.3% operating margin," stated Maurice J. Gallagher, Jr., CEO and President of Allegiant Travel Company. "This quarter marked a return to capacity growth after last year's pullback, with modest growth in departures amplified by increases in passengers per departure and load factor. At over $108 per passenger, we slightly exceeded the range of total scheduled fare per passenger we guided for the quarter. Also consistent with guidance, we increased year-over-year total scheduled RASM by 2.1%. Costs were down substantially, driven by a nearly 50% drop in the per-gallon cost of fuel. The result was a near-tripling of operating margins and record EPS for the company.
• "Looking forward, we expect second quarter costs to be substantially lower than the prior year, both because of significantly lower fuel costs and increased utilization. Fuel cost per passenger for the first half of April was slightly more than $26, substantially below the $62.48 we paid in the second quarter of 2008. Increased utilization should drive non-fuel cost per passenger below the prior year's $47.52 per passenger. On the revenue side, travelers continue to book much closer to the time of travel, making projections difficult.