Nuts, Southwest

Southwest Airlines’s stock is taking a beating today — down $1.90 at last check, to $7.91, following an analyst’s decision to downgrade the stock to “sell” from “underperform.” That follows yesterday’s announcement that, for the second quarter in a row, the Dallas-based carrier posted a loss — even though it was still up in 2008, for the 36th year in a row.

So why the downgrade? Has a little something to do with plans to “suspend indefinitely” the airline’s future growth —except at Love Field, of course. Says Calyon Securities analyst Ray Neidl, the man advising investors to take the money and run, “Management faces a challenge in keeping unit costs under control as growth grinds to a halt.” But in very related news: Fare wars!