The research organization reported on its airline travel ratings:

More than 16,000 readers told us about their experiences on 31,732 domestic round-trip flights in the previous 12 months. Seven of the 11 airlines they rated received low scores for seating comfort. Only JetBlue, Hawaiian, Southwest, and Virgin America did better. They also topped our list overall.

Other quality-of-flight measures also got low marks from readers who flew on lower-rated airlines, including cabin-crew service, cleanliness, and in-flight entertainment. The proliferation of added fees further contributes to passengers’ low opinion of today’s flying experience.

The news about Hewlett-Packard Co.’s (NYSE: HPQ) earnings may have been better than expected, but they cannot compare nearly to PC maker rival Lenovo. For some reason it has managed to dodge much of the downturn in global personal computer sales, perhaps because its costs of labor are low. The China-based company reported, according to Bloomberg:

[T]he world’s second-biggest maker of personal computers, reported a 90 percent gain in fourth-quarter profit after increasing its market share and boosting smartphone sales.

Net income climbed to $126.9 million in the three months ended March, from $66.8 million a year earlier, Lenovo said in a statement today. That beat the $108.1 million average of eight analysts’ estimates compiled by Bloomberg.

Lenovo is developing mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets as it seeks to lure customers from Apple Inc. and Samsung Electronics Co. and weather a global slump in demand for PCs. The company maintained PC sales and expanded market share in the quarter, even as global shipments dropped 13.9 percent, researcher International Data Corp. reported in April.

Airline Travel Ratings

Consumer Reports released its new ratings of the best and worst airlines. Virgin America was at the top of the list. Spirit Airlines Inc. (NASDAQ: SAVE) was at the bottom. Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE: LUV) was in second place among the winners. On the wrong end of the list, United Continental Holdings Inc. (NYSE: UAL) and American Airlines were in second-worst and third-worst place. The research organization reported on its airline travel ratings:

More than 16,000 readers told us about their experiences on 31,732 domestic round-trip flights in the previous 12 months. Seven of the 11 airlines they rated received low scores for seating comfort. Only JetBlue, Hawaiian, Southwest, and Virgin America did better. They also topped our list overall. Other quality-of-flight measures also got low marks from readers who flew on lower-rated airlines, including cabin-crew service, cleanliness, and in-flight entertainment. The proliferation of added fees further contributes to passengers’ low opinion of today’s flying experience.

Samsung Galaxy S4 Sales

The Samsung Galaxy S4, often considered the only real rival to the Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) iPhone 5, may be posting sales that are even more impressive that the iPhone’s. The South Korean company said of the first month of Galaxy S4 sales:

Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. today announced that global channel sales of its GALAXY S4, a life companion for a richer, fuller, simpler life, has surpassed 10 million units sold in less than one month after its commercial debut. Launched globally on April 27, the phone is estimated to be selling at a rate of four units per second. The GALAXY S4 sets a new record for Samsung, generating sales quicker than any of its predecessors. Sales of the GALAXY S III reached the 10-million mark 50 days after its launch in 2012, while the GALAXY S II took five months and the GALAXY S seven months to reach the same milestone.

The announcement, and the wait for the iPhone 5S, could further dent Apple’s reputation and its share price.

The U.S. dollar index is trading up 0.8% today, now at 84.2540. The GSCI commodity index is up 0.5% at 627.99. WTI crude oil closed up 0.9%, at $96.02 a barrel. Brent crude trades up 0.1% at $103.80 a barrel. Natural gas is up 3.1% today at about $4.06 per million BTUs. Gold settled down 1.6% today at $1,364.70, down nearly $72 for the week.

The unofficial closing bells put the DJIA up more than 121 points to 15,354.79 (0.80%), the NASDAQ rose nearly 34 points (0.97%) to 3,498.97, and the S&P 500 rose 0.95% or nearly 16 points to 1,666.12.

There were a several analyst upgrades and downgrades today, including:

• Deere & Co. (NYSE: DE) cut to ‘sell’ and price target slashed to $85 at Goldman Sachs;
• The Walt Disney Co. (NYSE: DIS) cut to ‘neutral’ at Atlantic Securities;
• General Motors Co. (NYSE: GM) raised to ‘buy’ at Credit Agricole;
• United Continental Holdings plc (NYSE: UAL) raised to ‘market perform’ at Avondale Partners; and
• Pandora Media Inc. (NYSE: P) cut to ‘hold’ at Maxim Group on a valuation call.

Earnings reports since markets closed last night have resulted in some price changes for reporting companies as of the last half hour of trading today (more coverage is linked to the company’s name):

• Autodesk Inc. (NASDAQ: ADSK) is down 7% at $37.00;
• Dell Inc. (NYSE: DELL) is down 0.2% at $13.40;
• J.C. Penney Co. Inc. (NYSE: JCP) is down 3.6% at $18.11;
• Nordstrom Inc. (NYSE: JWN) is down 0.7% at $60.72; and
• Stage Stores Inc. (NYSE: SSI) is down 7.6% at $24.11;

Before markets open Monday morning we are scheduled to hear earnings from Campbell Soup Co. (NYSE: CPB), JA Solar Holdings Co. Ltd. (NASDAQ: JASO), and Qihoo 360 Technology Co. Ltd. (NYSE: QIHU).

Some standouts among heavily traded stocks today include:

National Bank of Greece SA (NYSE: NBG) is up 19% at $2.38. The Greek bank’s shares rise following a boost to the country’s sovereign debt rating earlier this week.

Real Goods Solar Inc. (NASDAQ: RSOL) is up 98.4% at $3.48, after posting a new 52-week high of $3.63 earlier today. The solar PV installation company is finally getting some attention from investors, even though its first quarter earnings released last week were weak.

Tableau Software Inc. (NYSE: DATA) is up 62.5% at $50.38. The cloud-based, big data visualization maker held its IPO today.

Stay tuned for Monday. We have noted the following events on the schedule (all times Eastern):

• 8:30 a.m. – Chicago Fed national activity index
• 11:30 a.m. – 3- and 6-month bill auctions

Have a great weekend!

Among low-budget carriers, the bottom based on customer satisfaction was AirTran Airways followed closely by Frontier Air.

Power reported:

Alaska Airlines (NYSE: ALK) ranks highest in the traditional carrier segment for a sixth consecutive year, with an index score of 717. Alaska Airlines, which improves by 39 points from 2012 — the largest improvement among all carriers ranked in the study — performs particularly well in six of the seven factors: cost & fees; boarding/deplaning/baggage; aircraft; flight crew; check-in; and reservation.

Delta Air Lines moves up one rank position to second with a score of 682, improving by 23 points from 2012, with significant gains across all seven factors. Alaska Airlines and Delta Air Lines each improve significantly and perform well among traditional carriers in flight crew. Ranking third, Air Canada declines by six points to 671.

And

JetBlue Airways (NASDAQ: JBLU) ranks highest among low-cost carriers for an eighth consecutive year, with a score of 787. This also marks the ninth consecutive year JetBlue has ranked highest in the study. JetBlue, which improves by 11 index points on a year-over-year basis, performs particularly well in in-flight services and aircraft. Southwest Airlines (NYSE: LUV), which improves in all of the factors except cost & fees, ranks second at 770, which remains on par with 2012.

There has never been any solid evidence that customer satisfaction ratings actually affect the flying habits of travelers. However, that may be because as the number of carriers shrinks, so do the options to select alternatives.

Southwest Airlines announced Wednesday morning that its board of directors has quadrupled its quarterly dividend payment to $0.04 per share from $0.01 per share. The increase is for shareholders of record at the close of business on June 5, 2013, and will be paid on June 26, 2013.

Another boost is coming from the buyback plan. The existing $1 billion share repurchase program is being expanded to $1.5 billion. On top of that, an initial $250 million in its common stock will be repurchased under an accelerated stock repurchase program.

The new dividend will amount to a yield of 1.1%, based on the $13.98 close on Tuesday. Shares currently are trading higher by almost 3% at $14.39. That $1.5 billion share buyback compares to a market cap of $10.41.

As we have said before, United Continental Holdings Inc. (NYSE: UAL) is the main dividend sinner in the sector. The airline is considered the healthiest legacy carrier now that United and Continental have amalgamated into one company, and its market cap is $11.6 billion now that shares have rallied a whopping 70% in the past six months.

Delta announced on Wednesday that it plans to create $5 billion in value for shareholders. In that plan, $1 billion will be returned to shareholders over the next three years and the airline declared a $0.06 per share common dividend as a result. Delta will also spend up to $500 million to repurchase its common stock.

Together, the dividend and buyback programs will return more than $1 billion of capital to shareholders over the next three years. The dividend yield is approximately 1.3% if you take the 3.3% gain to $18.68 on Wednesday.

Currently, Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE: LUV) is the only airline that pays a dividend. Its yield is very small at 0.3%, but this may pressure Southwest to seek higher payouts as well.

Delta shares are up 3.3% at $18.68 and the stock hit a new multiyear high of $18.84 today. The $0.24 annualized payout compares to $2.64 in earnings per share expected from Thomson Reuters for earnings in 2013.

24/7 Wall St. praises dividends. We also want to call out the myriad of great companies that need to realize that times demand investor payouts. A few companies are still buying growth, and we have identified some of these players as well. The thesis behind offering a solid dividend is that it instills confidence in investors that the company has earnings visibility for years even when the business cycle slows.

Having a real dividend policy may also be the key to keeping nervous investors from fleeing and going into cash or Treasury bonds, which pay almost nothing these days. There are just still too many companies in denial that they are still growth companies when they need to start directly rewarding shareholders. Some companies can get away without paying out a single cent to owners because the value of growth is so strong. That list is shrinking these days. Most companies we identified are in what we would call the “Dividend Sinners” category.

Our review focuses on Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN), Bed Bath & Beyond Inc. (NASDAQ: BBBY), Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (NYSE: BRK-A), Dollar General Corp. (NYSE: DG), Dollar Tree Inc. (NASDAQ: DLTR), eBay Inc. (NASDAQ: EBAY), Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ: EA), EMC Corp. (NYSE: EMC), Express Scripts Inc. (NASDAQ: ESRX), Jack in the Box Inc. (NASDAQ: JACK), Teradyne Inc. (NYSE: TER), United Continental Holdings Inc. (NYSE: UAL), Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ: YHOO) and Zebra Technologies Corp. (NASDAQ: ZBRA). We have handicapped whether investors might expect a dividend in the near-term or long-term from each of these as well.

The first order of business is to identify some of the great companies that have started paying a dividend since we (and others) have called for them to act with dividend payments in the past year or two. A few would include Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL), Dell Inc. (NASDAQ: DELL), Cisco Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: CSCO), Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ: AMGN), Symantec Corp. (NASDAQ: SYMC) and NASDAQ OMX Group Inc. (NASDAQ: NDAQ).

The Bank of Japan believes it can reach its inflation targets by 2015. (Reuters)

Amazon.com Inc.’s (NASDAQ: AMZN) growth slows in the first quarter but margins are better because of lower marketing costs and profits in noncore businesses. (Reuters)

Research firm IDC reports that Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) lost more global market share in smartphones in the first quarter, down to 17.3% from 23% in the same quarter a year ago. (Reuters)

Samsung Electronics profits grew in the most recent quarter, ahead of the launch of the Galaxy S4. (Reuters)

George Soros buys 7.9% of the shares of J.C. Penney Co. Inc. (NYSE: JCP). (Reuters)

Results at U.S. banks drop as borrowing falls. (Reuters)

Vodafone Group PLC (NASDAQ: VOD) wants $30 billion more for its 45% share in Verizon Wireless than Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE: VZ) is willing to pay. (WSJ)

Fred Amoroso, the chairman of Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ: YHOO), resigns. (WSJ)

The chief executive of United Continental Holdings Inc. (NYSE: UAL) says that many of the integration problems of the merger that created the company are gone. (WSJ)

Starbucks Corp.’s (NASDAQ: SBUX) second-quarter earnings rise 26% on strong sales in Asia and the United States. (WSJ)

Debt taken on by Dish Network Corp. (NASDAQ: DISH) to buy Sprint Nextel Corp. (NYSE: S) could swamp the wireless company’s results. (WSJ)

The recession in southern Europe could spread to Germany and other northern European nations. (NYT)

A system that allows electric car owners to send power back to their power companies becomes a financial success. (NYT)

Samsung warns that the growth of smartphone sales could slow. (FT)

Searches for financial terms from the markets may be able to help predict store prices. (FT)

Today’s news is the confirmation of the death and implosion of this ETF, as it has not traded since March 15. There are actually nine ETFs that Guggenheim is closing. The FAA investors are set to receive a distribution of $42.986572 per share.

One problem that this ETF had was that there are too few stocks of importance to offer real diversity. The top three holdings were Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE: LUV), Delta Air Lines Inc. (NYSE: DAL) and United Continental Holdings Inc. (NYSE: UAL). These three stocks accounted for nearly half of the ETF, which is something that investors do not like to generally see.

Investors who want exposure to the airline sector now likely will have to focus on the iShares Dow Jones Transportation Average (NYSEMKT: IYT). The problem is that airlines are extremely under-represented in this ETF. The hope is going to have to be that airlines are somewhat tied to the transportation sector each day.

Another ETF death has come about, and today is the funeral for the Guggenheim Airline ETF. In pilot terminology, this would be called a high-speed flame out.

An Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) report on China says growth could average more than 8% a year over the next decade. (Reuters)

Dell Inc. (NASDAQ: DELL) investors Southeastern Asset Management might have joined that planned buyout, but rejected it and fought the bid as too low. (Reuters)

J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM) is the top bank in M&A activity in the first quarter. (Reuters)

Cyprus may restructure its second largest bank and set financial deposit rules as it struggles with its finances. (WSJ)

Health insurers report that overhaul of the systems under Obamacare may sharply raise premiums for small businesses. (WSJ)

U.S. officials warn banks over loans that add leverage to troubled companies. (WSJ)

FedEx Corp. (NYSE: FDX) will buy 30 model 757 Boeing Co. (NYSE: BA) planes from United Continental Holdings Inc. (NYSE: UAL). (WSJ)

Samsung makes strong claims on the low end of the smartphone market. (WSJ)

Global sales of Nike Inc. (NYSE: NKE) sports shoes and Cole Haan products push earnings higher by 55%. (WSJ)

China becomes the second largest nation in the world for movie ticket sales. (WSJ)

Europe officials examine Apple Inc.’s (NASDAQ: AAPL) relationships with carriers and whether they blunt competition, with the carriers themselves voicing concern. (NYT)

BlackBerry (NASDAQ: BBRY) to introduce its new Z10 into the U.S. market following mixed reviews. (FT)

Apple will increase customer security via a verification process meant to prevent hacking. (FT)

France stat organization Insee expects the French economy to stay frozen in the first half. (Bloomberg)