Jim Cramer’s Opinion on 14 Stocks Like Applied Aerospace and Delta Air Lines

8. Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL)

Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL) was among the stocks Jim Cramer shared his opinions on during Mad Money. Cramer discussed the stock ahead of its earnings, as he stated:

High-end carriers like the two I keep mentioning to you, Delta and United, have made a conscious effort to focus on their premium offerings, their first class and premium economy tickets, business travel, higher price, overseas flights. They also moved aggressively into new revenue streams like credit cards. You know, Delta’s got this very lucrative partnership with American Express that made up 13% of the revenue last year… Look, oil’s coming down. Now, I know… jet fuel’s not down enough yet, but maybe we’ll hear something about that from Delta, which reports on Friday morning.

But here’s why this is exciting. If it’s true that Delta and United are becoming secular growth winners and not just boom-and-bust cyclical stocks like they’ve been considered for years, then you’re going to start to see these stocks get re-rated higher… Meaning that investors will start to pay more for the same earnings. In other words, secular stocks, secular growth, tend to get a higher price-to-earnings ratio than cyclical stocks because Wall Street will pay up for consistency. Currently, Delta trades at just under 15 times this year’s earnings estimate…

As we start to look beyond 2026, we see that, without the fuel headwinds, both these companies are expected to grow significantly. According to current consensus estimates, Delta’s expected to earn around $6 per share this year. But you know what? That could grow to $8.50 next year, maybe 10 bucks in 2028. You know, I expect it to go from 10 and change of earnings per share this year to around 15 next year and 17 in 2028. If we’re right about the secular growth thesis, that will happen.

Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL) provides passenger and cargo air transportation. The company operates a large fleet and a global network across major hubs, and it also offers aircraft maintenance, repair, and overhaul services.