Ryanair shares have recovered strongly on the Dublin and New York markets, after the publication of an extremely bullish report on the airline by investment bank Credit Suisse First Boston, which has given Ryanair a "strong buy" tag.
CSFB believes that the recent fall in the share price to a low of 315p was mainly the result of "a very poorly structured conference call to announce its first quarter's earnings" as well "a very large sloppy seller on August 20th". The investment bank has set a target share price of 425p for Ryanair, the shares closed yesterday up 28p on 353p, still a distance short of the recent 400p high but well above the recent 317p low.
That conference call, which was conducted with some analysts not in possession of the actual first quarter profit and loss and balance sheet figures, resulted in " a combination of misinterpretations and misunderstandings," said CSFB. A second conference call the following day "helped to rectify part of the problem but some misunderstandings persist," said CSFB analyst, Ms Janet Kinzler.
In that second conference call, Ryanair's chief executive, Mr Michael O'Leary, made it clear that the airline believes that 25-30 per cent growth is sustainable over the next three to five years. "The bottom line is that nothing fundamental has changed in what we believe to be a very promising high-growth airline story, making the stock extremely attractive at these levels," stated Ms Kinzler.
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