Copa Holdings upgraded to Outperform at Cowen amid airlines rating shake-up

Cowen analyst Helane Becker upgraded Copa Holdings (CPA) to Outperform from Market Perform with a price target of $98, up from $80, as part of a shake-up of rating in the airlines group. Becker believes airlines are in a better position than investors think, given the view that infrastructure issues, aircraft delivery delays, and labor will continue to constrain how much capacity they can deploy, keeping "a high floor under fares." The airlines should generate higher revenues in 2023 than in 2022 and Becker believes they will return capital to shareholders beginning in 2023, the analyst added. Among the group, United Airlines (UAL) remains Becker’s Best Idea 2023 and the analyst also points to Delta Air Lines (DAL), Alaska Air (ALK) and Southwest (LUV) as "well positioned."