Alaska Air Replaces SanDisk in S&P 500 Index

Now that the acquisition of SanDisk by Western Digital Corp. (NASDAQ: WDC) has received all necessary approvals, the deal is expected to close Thursday, May 12. After markets close that day, Alaska Air Group Inc. (NYSE: ALK) will replace the flash-memory maker on the S&P 500 index.

Alaska Airlines was the top-rated legacy carrier in the 2016 J.D. Power North America Airline Customer Satisfaction Study released Wednesday morning, a position it has held for nine consecutive years.

The company recently reached an agreement to acquire Virgin America Inc. (NASDAQ: VA) for $2 billion in cash and about the same amount in Virgin America debt. The acquisition is expected to close by the end of 2016.

Alaska Air’s five-year share price growth reached a peak of nearly 400% last November. Shares traded up about 300% over the five-year period Wednesday morning, compared with a gain of about 56% in the S&P 500 Index over the same period. SanDisk’s growth over the five-year period was about 64%, while Western Digital’s share price had risen by more than 200% as of late 2014, but traded Wednesday up just 2.5% over the five-year period.
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Alaska Airlines stock traded down about 1% Wednesday morning, at $68.60 in a 52-week range of $58.15 to $87.17. The consensus price target on the stock is $88.41.