Key Stats for Delta Air Lines Stock
- Current Price: $81.14
- Target Price (Mid): ~$84
- Street Target: ~$105
- Potential Total Return: ~3% (over ~4 years, to 2030)
- Annualized IRR: ~0.7% / year
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What Happened?
Delta Air Lines (DAL) has become the object of two loud, opposite bets placed within the same two weeks. On August 14, a regulatory filing showed Berkshire Hathaway raised its Delta position by 44% in the second quarter, lifting its ownership from 6.1% to 8.7%. Ten days later, Raymond James and TD Cowen both cut their price targets on the stock. Delta closed at $81.14 on August 27, down 2.34% on the day and about 4% over the prior month.
Why Buffett’s Successor Is Buying an Industry Buffett Quit
Warren Buffett spent years calling airlines a capital trap and dumped Berkshire’s entire airline portfolio in 2020, taking steep losses across four carriers. So it means something that Greg Abel, in only his second full quarter as chief executive, added 17.5 million Delta shares to bring the stake to 57.3 million shares worth roughly $5.4 billion at the end of June. As of that June 30 filing, Delta is the only airline Berkshire owns, and the position sits alongside longtime holdings like Apple and American Express.
The June quarter gives the clearest answer Delta has offered in years. Revenue hit a record $17.7 billion, up 14% over last year, and the company earned $1.56 per share with an 8.8% operating margin, all while absorbing the highest fuel bill in its history. Diverse revenue streams, meaning premium cabins, loyalty, cargo, and maintenance rather than plain coach fares, reached 61% of total revenue, with premium and loyalty each up nearly 20%. CEO Ed Bastian tied that resilience back to the balance sheet, telling analysts the goal is to “play offense once in a while when deficits and challenges occur rather than always having to play defense.” A carrier that can keep buying when rivals are forced to retrench is exactly the durability a Berkshire-style buyer looks for.
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The Target Cuts Are About Slowing Growth, Not a Broken Thesis
Raymond James cut its target to $98 from $104 and kept an Outperform rating, and TD Cowen went to $105 from $112 while keeping a Buy. Both still sit well above the current price. The number underneath the caution is capacity discipline turning into slower top-line growth: Delta grew June-quarter revenue 14% on roughly 1% more flying, a gap that cannot repeat once the fuel-recapture pricing laps itself. Consensus revenue now sits near $73 billion for 2026, and the forward two-year revenue growth rate the Street models is roughly 8.5%, healthy but decelerating. The cuts are the sell-side marking that deceleration to market while keeping the longer premium thesis intact.
The latest tally shows 19 buys and 5 outperforms against one underperform and one sell, with a mean target of about $105 against the $81 close. On the multiple, DAL trades near 9.9x next-twelve-month earnings and 13.5x trailing earnings, cheaper than the broad market and roughly in line with where a slower-growing industrial trades. The premium to a pure commodity carrier is defensible on the loyalty and Amex economics.
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TIKR Advanced Model Analysis
- Current Price: $81.14
- Target Price (Mid): ~$84
- Potential Total Return: ~3% (to 2030)
- Annualized IRR: ~0.7% / year
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Here is where the enthusiasm meets arithmetic. TIKR’s mid-case values Delta at about $84 by 2030, implying roughly 3% total return and under 1% a year from today’s price. The mid case leans on two revenue drivers: premium and loyalty mix, anchored by an Amex partnership targeting $9 billion of remuneration this year, and international network expansion across the Atlantic and Pacific. The margin driver is net income margin holding around 8%, supported by capacity discipline and falling interest expense as Delta pushes gross leverage toward 2x by year-end. Stretch the model to the full forecast horizon, and the spread widens: a high case near $97 if margins expand and the multiple holds, a low case near $70 if the recovery stalls.
Two risks sit under that thin return. The first is the one Bastian never stops naming, fuel: Delta absorbed a nearly $4 billion fuel increase this year and still guided to earnings growth, but any renewed spike hits margins first. The second is the one the target-cutters flagged, softening near-term demand as the fuel-recapture pricing laps itself. The model says the current price already banks most of the recovery. Berkshire and the Street are buying the business anyway. The model is asking what is left to pay a new buyer at $81.
Conclusion
The tell arrives in mid-October, when Delta reports its September quarter. Management guided to mid-teens revenue growth and an operating margin of 11% to 13%, with EPS of $2.00 to $2.50 against $1.70 last year. Hit the high end of that margin band and the Berkshire read looks early rather than wrong, and the $105 targets regain their footing. Come in at the low end, or soften the fourth-quarter booking commentary, and the model’s flat return stops looking cautious and starts looking correct. One quarter rarely settles a thesis this size, but this one shows which of the two August bets read the same numbers better.
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Should You Invest in Delta Air Lines?
The only way to really know is to look at the numbers yourself. TIKR gives you free access to the same institutional-quality financial data that professional analysts use to answer exactly that question.
Pull up Delta Air Lines, and you’ll see years of historical financials, what Wall Street analysts expect for revenue and earnings in the quarters ahead, how valuation multiples have moved over time, and whether price targets are trending up or down.
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Disclaimer:
Please note that the articles on TIKR are not intended to serve as investment or financial advice from TIKR or our content team, nor are they recommendations to buy or sell any stocks. We create our content based on TIKR Terminal’s investment data and analysts’ estimates. Our analysis might not include recent company news or important updates. TIKR has no position in any stocks mentioned. Thank you for reading, and happy investing!
