Unlike individual shareholders, who may decide to wait for a few more weeks or months before they decide to dump their holdings, these large financial companies cannot afford to wait because they usually handle billions of dollars.

They usually have trading software that is configured to sell any company that crosses the 52-week low line. Because their holdings are large, any sell order from any of those institutions could drive down the stock price to even lower levels – hurting individual investors like us.

Keeping an eye on companies nearing 52-week lows is also useful for investors interesting in snapping up shares of their favorite companies while they're out of favour or otherwise temporarily depressed. If you're confident in a company's future despite short-term troubles, then a low could mean opportunity.

• Qantas Airways (ASX: QAN) is currently the fifth worst airline in the world by profits as explained in my last article and the current stock price of just $1.25 as of October 31 is just $0.07 (5.06%) from its 52-week low.
• Gud Holdings (ASX: GUD) was the loser of October 31, dropping 6.9% to $5.93 or just $0.34 (5.73%) away from a yearly low.
• Paladin Energy (ASX: PDN) was the second loser on October 30 dropping 7.2% to $0.38, which is the 52-week low price.

Foolish takeaway

These companies are very close to the edge. Consider yourself warned. If you're already planning to sell, you might want to do it before a supercomputer at your bank beats you to the punch. If you're looking to buy, add these companies to your watch list and make sure you know why they're down and out before you risk your own hard-earned cash.

The post 3 companies near 52-week lows — is this the bottom? appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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What is the point of flying with the airplanes completely filled with passengers if some of them aren't even paying you enough to recover your jet fuel costs?

This company sells over $16.1 billion each year. That is a lot of tickets. In fact, Qantas is currently one of the largest companies in the world by sales — only 12 Australian companies sell more than it does. That's great, but the airline cannot keep flying people from one point to another if it cannot turn a profit.

Of the 2,000 leading companies of the world, 23 are airlines. This means it is possible to make money with an airline. In fact, 73% of those airlines turn a profit and three of them make more than a cool billion each year.

Let's take a closer look at the worst airlines in the world:

Source: Forbes (May 2013), numbers in billions of USD.

Here is the pattern. Latam Airlines does not belong in this list because it is not losing money. However, it's not a winner either because it is not making any money, either. Still, if you take a closer look at these numbers you will find that Latam sells fewer tickets than Qantas and yet manages to break even.

On the other hand, the rest of the losers are caught in a downward spiral, competing with other big airlines with low prices until they sell too many tickets below cost and cannot make any money.

As you can see, it is not a coincidence that all these companies lose more money than Qantas. They all sell a lot of tickets, but that is not how you make money.

Note to the CEOs of these companies: Stop the madness. Increase prices to reduce sales.

I know a guy who was fired from his own phone company. I don't mean that he used to be an employee of the phone company. What I mean is he was a customer and he got fired. He was told essentially, "We regret to inform you that we cannot sell you our products or services anymore and your line will be disconnected soon. Please go to another phone company for all your communication needs."

Maybe this is what some customers of these airlines need to hear, too.

Foolish takeaway
Stay away from Qantas. At least until it unloads some of its old airplanes, closes some unprofitable routes and raises prices.

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More reading

• Qantas' international plans on track
• Qantas cuts costs with new planes
• Is it time to buy Qantas?

Motley Fool contributor Alejandro Guillú Mendoza does not own shares in any of the companies mentioned in this article.

The post Can Qantas be saved? appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

More reading

• A big week: Rates, Inflation and Super
• Zip vs Megaport: Which ASX tech share is the better buy?
• Here are the top 10 ASX 200 shares today
• 6 ASX REITs just hit 52-week lows. Do any brokers say buy?
• PLS Group vs Mineral Resources: ASX mining shares compared