Allegiant Travel Company ALGT posted impressive traffic figures for October 2018. Traffic for the total system (including scheduled service and fixed fee contract), measured in revenue passenger miles (RPMs), increased 5.2% on a year-over-year basis. System capacity, calculated in available seat miles (ASMs), expanded 4.6%.Owing to traffic growth outpacing capacity expansion, load factor (percentage of seats filled with passengers) improved 40 basis points (bps) year over year to 80.5%. Allegiant’s passenger count rose 5.9% during the month. The company’s system-wide average fuel cost per gallon in October was approximately $2.56.In spite of delivering impressive traffic figures, the company is struggling with escalating fuel costs. High fuel costs have dented bottom-line growth in third-quarter 2018 results. Average fuel cost per gallon (system-wide) rallied 33.1% to $2.41 in the quarter. The Las Vegas, NV-based company expects fuel cost per gallon of $2.38 for 2018.Price PerformanceShares of Allegiant have performed disappointingly in the past six months, mainly due to high fuel costs. The stock has declined 23.6% compared with the industry’s decline of 4.6%. Zacks Rank & Key PicksAllegiant carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).A few better-ranked stocks in the broader Transportation sector are Matson, Inc. MATX, CSX Corporation CSX and Norfolk Southern Corporation NSC. While Matson and Norfolk Southern carry a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy), CSX Corporation sports a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.Shares of Matson, CSX Corporation and Norfolk Southern have gained 20.3%, 12.3% and 13.2% in the past six months, respectively.More Stock News: This Is Bigger than the iPhone! It could become the mother of all technological revolutions. Apple sold a mere 1 billion iPhones in 10 years but a new breakthrough is expected to generate more than 27 billion devices in just 3 years, creating a $1.7 trillion market.Zacks has just released a Special Report that spotlights this fast-emerging phenomenon and 6 tickers for taking advantage of it. If you don't buy now, you may kick yourself in 2020.Click here for the 6 trades >>Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report Allegiant Travel Company (ALGT): Free Stock Analysis Report Norfolk Southern Corporation (NSC): Free Stock Analysis Report CSX Corporation (CSX): Free Stock Analysis Report Matson, Inc. (MATX): Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Zacks Investment Research