How to Buy Westjet Stock [2024] | Invest in ONEX

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The airline industry is getting back to business. Want to be part of this growth? Consider investing in WestJet. This guide will analyze the most important facts about the Canadian airline, explain how to buy WestJet stock through its parent company Onex, as well as provide you with an overview of the best brokers to use.

What is WestJet?

The airline was founded in 1994 and began operations in 1996 as a low-cost alternative to the country’s competing major airlines. Currently, WestJet provides scheduled and charter air service to more than 110 destinations in North and Central America, The Caribbean, Europe, and Asia.

With over a quarter of travelers favoring WestJet in 2022, it was the second most booked airline, behind Air Canada, that year. 

Who owns WestJet?

In 2019, WestJet was acquired by Onex Corporation (TSX: ONEX), a private equity firm, in a deal valued at approximately $5 billion, including assumed debt. 

What happened to WestJet stock?

WestJet went public through an initial public offering (IPO) in July 1999 on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX) under the symbol WJA. However, since being acquired by Onex Corporation, WestJet trades under the Onex brand on the TSX with the stock symbol ONEX. Hence, you can buy WestJet stock by investing in Onex stock. 

Step-by-step process on how and where to buy WestJet stock

WestJet is a subsidiary of Onex Corporation (TSX: ONEX), which is a publicly-traded company. This means you can buy ONEX stock through a broker. The steps involved in purchasing shares of Onex are summarized in the following section in detail.

Step 1: Choose a broker

To buy Onex stock online, you’ll need a brokerage account. While several platforms are available, the one that suits you will depend on your investment style (long-term buy-and-hold strategy or active day trading) and needs (e.g., whether you want to trade more advanced financial products such as options). When assessing brokers, consider the following features:

• Fees: Brokerage fees are a type of fee collected by brokers to execute your transactions or provide specialized services. Fortunately, today, the vast majority of online brokers offer commission-free stock and exchange-traded funds (ETF) trading;
• Security: Pick a trustworthy broker by ensuring it is fully licensed by state regulatory authorities as well as FINRA and registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC);
• Trading tools: Active traders may prefer brokerage accounts with all the bells and whistles. Some brokers offer fully customizable platforms with comprehensive analysis tools or access to additional data for an extra cost. If such additions are unnecessary for your purposes, avoid paying extra for them. It’s typically a good idea to look for a user-friendly platform with a competitive fee structure if you are new to stock trading. A dedicated section with investing tips and tricks is a bonus;
• Access to market data: You should search for a platform that allows access to solid market research and reporting tools to help you trade confidently with updated data;
• Fractional stock trading: Fractional shares allow investors to buy stock or ETFs by the dollar amount instead of the number of shares; especially helpful for investors who don’t have unlimited capital but want to build a diversified portfolio or are looking to set up a dollar-cost averaging strategy. 

Where can I buy WestJet stock?

Thanks to various online brokers, the stock market has never been more accessible as well as affordable. However, choosing the right broker optimized for your needs (investing goals, educational tools, trading style) is critical for a stress-free trading experience. 

To securely invest in WestJet and buy ONEX stock, consider Interactive Brokers (IBKR), which offers:

• Commission-free stock trading;
• Global stock-trading on 90+ market centers;
• Fractional shares available;
• Extra income on fully paid shares;
• Lowest financing rates for margin accounts in the industry;
• No account minimum. 

Best Platform for Worldwide Stock Trading & Investing

• Highly trusted multi-asset broker with clients in over 200 countries

• Trade on 150 markets globally from a single platform (stocks, ETFs, futures, currencies, crypto & more)

• Low commissions starting at $0 with no platform fees or account minimums

• Easily fund your account and trade assets in 26 currencies

• IBKR pays up to 4.58% interest on cash balances of $10k or more

Up to 4.58% interest on balance*

Get Started

Step 2: Fund your account

Once you have decided on a broker, it’s time to fund your account. Remember, it can sometimes take up to three days for the money to reach your account.

Step 3: Research the company 

Understanding a company’s financial strength is the most crucial step in analyzing a stock. The best place to start your research is to go through the company’s public filings with the SEC. Fortunately, as a publicly traded company, Onex Corporation’s quarterly (form 10-K) and annual (form 10-K) earning reports, SEC filings, founders’ letters, product and business updates, as well as recent news releases can be accessed directly from its investor relations section. 

After weighing both the expected risks and rewards, decide whether you want ONEX stock as part of your investment portfolio.

Step 4: Decide how much you want to invest

Now that you’ve decided to invest in WestJet, you’ll need to determine how much you want to invest.

The amount of money you invest depends on the stock price and the number of shares you want to buy. If the share price of a stock you’re interested in is financially out of reach, you can also explore fractional shares. Fractional shares allow you to purchase shares on the dollar amount you’re comfortable with, so you may end up with less than a whole share, a whole share, or more than a whole share.

Because investing can have unpredictable returns, it’s essential only to invest what you can afford to lose and to be mindful of your risk appetite.

Step 5: Place your order and buy WestJet stock

Once you decide on the number of shares or the dollar amount you’d like to purchase, you can place your order. If you’re working with an advisor, tell them you’d like to buy Onex Corporation stock and how much you can invest, and they’ll do it for you. If using a brokerage account, simply log in and enter the ticker ONEX in the search bar. 

There are a few different execution options to choose from, including:

• Market order: A market order is an order to buy the stock at the current market price that is generally executed immediately (subject to availability);
• Limit order: A limit order is processed once the stock reaches your specified price. For example, imagine you want to buy ONEX at $65 or lower. You would then set the limit price at $65, and the order will only execute when the stock reaches the set price or lower;
• Options contract: Options speculation allows for leveraged positions in a security at a fraction of the cost of the underlying asset. A call option allows the trader to profit if the price of the stock increases, and a put option enables them to profit if the stock price declines. Remember, derivative instruments can only be traded on a margin account, which typically has higher minimum balance requirements than standard brokerage accounts. 

Step 6: Monitor your investment

You want to keep sporadically inspecting the company’s performance by checking the same annual and quarterly reports you used to conduct your preliminary research.

So, while “set it and forget it” is a solid strategy for a diversified portfolio of ETFs, for single stocks like ONEX, investors should keep a close watch on press releases, company health indicators such as revenue and net income, announcements on planned acquisitions, as well as overall economic conditions. Then, depending on your financial goals, use that knowledge to reassess whether it’s best to hold onto the stock or sell it. 

You may also want to track the performance of similar stocks in the industry for comparisons, such as TMX Group (TSX: X) or CI Financial (TSX: CIX). 

WestJet stock price

You can’t buy WestJet shares directly. If you want to invest in WestJet, you can buy shares in its parent company, Onex Corporation (ONEX), which is a publicly-traded company with its stock trading on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX) under the stock ticker ONEX.

Should I buy WestJet stock?

Besides looking at the company’s fundamentals, you can use technical analysis to evaluate the stock and identify trading opportunities in price trends and patterns seen on charts. 

This gauge displays a real-time technical analysis overview for your specified timeframe. It can be a valuable technical analysis tool for many traders by simplifying trading decisions by demonstrating the real-time recommendations of popular technical indicators such as moving averages and oscillators.  

Disclaimer: TradingView does not recommend trading financial instruments based exclusively on the advice of the Technical Rating indicator. These recommendations cannot predict future movements and are meant as assistance for spotting potentially favorable buy/sell conditions if this is consistent with their strategy.

Common mistakes to avoid when investing in stocks

Mistakes are expected when investing in stocks but can be avoided if you recognize them. For an in-depth guide on investing mistakes, we have compiled a list of 17 common mistakes and tips for preventing them. But, for now, let’s list some of the most typical ones:

1. Not performing your due diligence on the stock;
2. Having unclear financial goals;
3. Attempting to time the market;
4. Failing to diversify;
5. Letting your emotions rule the investment decision-making process.

How to sell WestJet stock?

You can sell ONEX if you see the company performing differently than expected or after reaching your desired financial goal.

If you’re working with an advisor, they can create a sale order for you. However, if you have your own broker account, simply log on, navigate to the stock’s detail page, input the number of shares or dollar amount you want to offload, and tap sell.

Pros and cons of buying WestJet stock

So, now that we’re familiar with WestJet’s parent Onex Corporation and how to buy its stock, let’s explore both the pros and cons of investing in it.

Pros

• Diversified business: Onex owns a diverse portfolio of operating companies spanning various industry sectors, protecting investors by reducing overexposure to any one holding;
• Pays a dividend: Onex is a dividend stock with an annual dividend yield of 0.42% (as of January 2024).

Cons

• Size: It is a large private equity firm with a broad range of holdings, and it is hard to understand all the moving parts. 

In conclusion

WestJet shares were delisted from the Toronto Stock Exchange in 2019 after it was purchased by the private equity firm Onex. As a result, if you wish to get exposure to the airline company, you must buy shares of Onex. 

Alternatively, if your goal is merely to invest in the airline sector, you may choose a different airline company stock entirely, such as Air Canada (TSX: AC) or Air Transat (TSX: TRZ). 

As always, remember to do your own independent research and have solid risk management tools in place before entering the market. Ultimately, the goal of investing is to make money over the long term, so investors should focus on where companies will be ten years from now rather than short-term fluctuations in the stock market. 

Disclaimer: The content on this site should not be considered investment advice. Investing is speculative. When investing, your capital is at risk. 

FAQs about WestJet

Best Platform for Worldwide Stock Trading & Investing

• Highly trusted multi-asset broker with clients in over 200 countries

• Trade on 150 markets globally from a single platform (stocks, ETFs, futures, currencies, crypto & more)

• Low commissions starting at $0 with no platform fees or account minimums

• Easily fund your account and trade assets in 26 currencies

• IBKR pays up to 4.58% interest on cash balances of $10k or more

Up to 4.58% interest on balance*

Get Started