JetBlue's Bittersweet Birthday

Has it really been five years since JetBlue (Nasdaq: JBLU  ) rolled out its discounted flights on jazzed-up jets featuring cozy leather seats and DirecTV (NYSE: DTV  ) televised programming? Indeed it has, and this week the company is celebrating its milestone with daily prizes.

Today it's 15 XM Satellite Radio (Nasdaq: XMSR  ) systems that will be given away to its website visitors as a nod to its recently added XM digital radio in-flight offering. Tomorrow it's La-Z-Boy (NYSE: LZB  ) recliners in honor of its leather seats and passenger stretching room. Later in the week, the airline will be giving away Vespa scooters and free flights.

Looking at the five burning candles, maybe JetBlue would prefer to pocket the last one and lie about its age. Things were so much easier for the carrier before it turned four. While the company has maintained its profitability over the past year, earnings clocked in lower than the previous year's showing during each of the 2004 quarters.

The stock is trading in the teens, and that's a far cry from its peak in the summer of 2003 when its shares were soaring toward the $50 mark. While the stock is unlikely to show much in terms of resiliency until it can get operating margins improving again, this may be the perfect time to consider buying in.

Over in our Rule Breakers discussion board someone asked whether JetBlue was a worthy candidate for the newsletter. I had to think that one over because, in a sense, it has the perfect RB vibe. The way the company stormed the beleaguered airline industry -- where only Southwest's (NYSE: LUV  ) profitability has been a sure thing over the years -- and did so with a quality product at a consumer-friendly price places it in the newsletter service's sweet spot. Yet the past year of falling financials and the emergence of "me too" products like Delta's (NYSE: DAL  ) Song are valid reasons to give a growth investor pause.

JetBlue, which was once singled out by Motley Fool Stock Advisor, is still a pretty face in a sector with a really ugly yearbook. But the travel industry has been bouncing back, and if the carriers ever get over the intermittent pricing war outbreaks, JetBlue should reap some handsome rewards. So let's see how the company's sixth birthday party turns out. Shareholders could really use some presents.

More stories that went airborne recently:

• JetBlue believes that XM marks the spot.
• Delta's singing a Song in the key of JetBlue.
• Check out some great travel deals in our Cheap Air Fares discussion board.

Longtime Fool contributor Rick Munarriz has enjoyed the two JetBlue flights he has taken. He does not own shares in any company mentioned in this story. The Fool has a disclosure policy. He is also part of the Rule Breakers newsletter research team, seeking out tomorrow's ultimate growth stocks a day early.