As air travel bounces back globally, the airlines are back on the radar of passengers as well as investors. According to the International Air Transport Association (IATA), worldwide passenger traffic is now at 74% of pre-pandemic levels, with Asia-Pacific recording the highest growth.
Singapore Airlines (SG:C6L), which is the flagship airline of Singapore, reported a huge jump in its passengers since April 2002, after the country fully opened its borders to vaccinated travelers. The company’s passenger capacity in the second quarter of the fiscal year 2022-23 is now at 68% of 2019 levels.
The share prices also followed a similar trend and have shown recovery after hitting a low point during the COVID-19 pandemic. In the last year, the share prices have been trading up by almost 16%, with an 11% gain in the last six months.
Encouraging Website Traffic
As per the TipRanks Website Traffic tool, Singapore Airlines reported a 43.63% monthly growth in November 2022, with 4.2 million unique visitors. Looking at the YTD figures, the airlines witnessed a growth of 117% at 40.6 million visitors.
With this tool, investors can gain insight into the company’s website performance and growth, which can be compared across different time periods. Investors can use this tool to capture data points on website traffic along with stock price movements and evaluate future performance.
Strong Financial Performance
The growth as depicted through the website tool clearly indicated a strong set of results for the company. The rebound in passenger traffic pushed the company to deliver record half-yearly operating profits for the fiscal year 2022-23. It posted $8.4 billion in revenues, which showed a growth of 197% as compared to the first half of 2021-22. The operating profits were at S$1.23 billion, which is a significant improvement over a loss of S$620 million in the corresponding period of the previous year.
The company’s resilience to come out of a dreadful period and its ability to tap the growth opportunity are praiseworthy.
As a result of such promising numbers, the company was able to resume its dividends and announced an interim dividend of S$0.1 per share.
Singapore Airlines Stock Forecast
According to TipRanks’ analyst consensus, Singapore Airlines’ stock has a Hold rating. The company has a total of six ratings, including three Buy, one Hold, and two sell recommendations.
The average price target is S$5.8, with a high and a low forecast of S$6.64 and S$4.7, respectively. The price target implies a change of 4% on the current price level.
Concluding Thoughts
As travelers gear up for the holiday season and lunar new year period, Singapore Airlines expects its demand to rise further. On the flip side, cargo demand is expected to be a little weak amid macroeconomic challenges like lower product demand and reduced inventories.
The growing website traffic and strong operational performance indicate a smooth road to recovery for Singapore Airlines.
