Back to top

Image: Bigstock

6 Reasons Why Ryanair (RYAAY) Should be in Your Portfolio

Read MoreHide Full Article

Ryanair Holdings plc (RYAAY - Free Report) is benefiting from the improvement in traffic from the pandemic-led slump. Measures to expand its fleet and bring down debt levels are encouraging too.

Against this backdrop, let’s look at the factors that make this stock an attractive pick.

What Makes RYAAY an Attractive Pick?

An Outperformer: A glimpse at the company’s price trend reveals that the stock has had an impressive run on the bourse over the past year. Shares of RYAAY have gained 79% in the past year compared with the 15.4% rise of the industry it belongs to.

 

Zacks Investment Research
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

Solid Rank & VGM Score: RYAAY currently sports a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) and has a VGM Score of A. Our research shows that stocks with a VGM Score of A or B, when combined with a Zacks Rank #1 or 2 (Buy), offer the best investment opportunities. Thus, the company seems to be an appropriate investment proposition at the moment.

Northward Estimate Revisions:The direction of estimate revisions serves as an important pointer when it comes to the price of a stock. Over the past 90 days, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for RYAAY’s fiscal 2024 earnings has moved up 1.2% year over year.

Positive Earnings Surprise History: RYAAY has an impressive earnings surprise history. The company delivered an earnings surprise of 17.95% in the last four quarters, on average. 

Earnings Expectations: Earnings growth and stock price gains often indicate a company’s prospects. For fiscal 2024 and 2025, RYAAY’s earnings are expected to grow 24.83% and 16.68%, year over year, respectively.

Growth Factors: An improvement in Ryanair’s traffic from the pandemic-led slump is encouraging. Traffic grew 11% to 105.4 million during the first half of fiscal 2024. Ryanair expects its traffic view for fiscal 2024 to be 183.5 million. On the back of the buoyant traffic scenario, RYAAY’s profit after tax grew 59% year over year during the first half of fiscal 2024. Load factor increased to 95% in the first half of fiscal 2024 from 92% in the year-ago reported quarter.

Ryanair’s measures to expand its fleet to cater to the improvement in air-travel demand are encouraging. RYAAY’s total fleet included 536 aircraft as of Sep 30, 2023.

Other Stocks to Consider

Some other top-ranked stocks from the Zacks Transportation sector are Westinghouse Air Brake Technologies Corporation, operating as Wabtec Corporation (WAB - Free Report) and SkyWest, Inc. (SKYW - Free Report) . Each stock presently carries a Zacks Rank of 2. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

Wabtec has an expected earnings growth rate of 22.43% for the current year. WAB delivered a trailing four-quarter earnings surprise of 7.11%, on average.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for WAB’s current-year earnings has improved 4.9% over the past 90 days. Shares of WAB have gained 27.2% year to date.

SkyWest's fleet-modernization efforts are commendable. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for SKYW’s current-year earnings has improved 38.9% over the past 90 days. Shares of SKYW have surged 217.7% year to date.

SKYW delivered a trailing four-quarter earnings surprise of 32.57%, on average.

Published in