Airline stocks are in focus as Crude Oil Posts the Biggest One Day Gains on Saudi Attack
Any disruption to the oil production industry in Saudi Arabia can lead to utter chaos in a different industry. But some industries are more affected than others and one of those in the aviation industry. As everyone knows, the drone attacks on the Saudi Arabian oil facilities Saturday have knocked out a large chunk of the world’s oil supply. That had a major effect on aviation stocks in the short term.
Fuel costs are the biggest cost for most airlines and once the price of oil going through the rook, the shares of American Airlines Group Inc (NASDAQ:AAL) declined significantly as well. On Monday, the stock fell by as much as 7% to close at $27.77. But this mixe of attacks and focus on airlines could have a different impact on sectors like weapons detection & defense.
Defense Stocks In Focus
There have been more mass shootings this year in the United States than there have been days in the year. Over 330 mass shootings [1], to be exact. This is becoming a huge issue that is costing precious lives and could see billions of dollars spent to fix this situation. Furthermore, airports across the world are working hard to prevent potentially devastating attacks on a daily basis. But the technology could be dramatically flawed.
Global spending on security solutions is projected to reach $7.4 billion in 2019 and increase to over $11.3 billion by 2025 with a CAGR of 8.2%. The urban Security explosives and Weapons Detection market is slated to grow to nearly $7.5 billion by 2025 and is forecast to see consistent growth for the next several years [2].
What does this mean? Well, for investors it could signal big opportunities but with so many large companies targeting surveillance systems and weapon detection devices as a “go-to,” is there anything that could truly disrupt this market?
Liberty Defense (SCAN.V) (LDDFF) Is Positioning To Change The Face Of Threat Detection For Good
The truth of the matter is that mass shootings now happen more than once a day in the US and as we’ve come to find, there’s no real way to stop these attacks after an attacker enters a space. This is where the real opportunity is: stopping an attack before someone even enters a vulnerable space.
Liberty Defense (TSX: SCAN.V) (OTC: LDDFF) plans to do that using HEXWAVE, a next-generation high-tech security scanning system that will use advanced, low-power radar, 3D-imaging, and Artificial Intelligence (AI) to screen people at public gatherings such as sports games, unobtrusively. The demand is present and Liberty Defense (TSX: SCAN.V) (OTC: LDDFF) has already inked several Memorandums of Understanding for beta testing of HEXWAVE, which is expected to start in early 2020.
New Uptrend: Since hitting lows of C$0.56 last week, Liberty Defense (TSX: SCAN.V) (OTC: LDDFF) has seen price and volume increase as well. This week the market has already hit highs of C$0.70.
High Impact on Airline Stocks
Getting back to airline stocks, the drone attack knocked off as many as 5.5 million barrels of oil but today Saudi news stated that it expects to recover quicker than initially expected. Saudi Arabia is one of the biggest oil suppliers to the United States.
So, it wasn’t a surprise that stocks of airlines in America were the hardest hit by this selloff. Today, however, airline stocks are back flying. While United Airlines Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:UAL) and Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL) lost 3% and 1.50% respectively, it was American Airlines Group that led the decline. Today, all three are up considerably.
