Singapore Airlines stock jumped 2.6% in morning trading and it has gained 8% since lastest earnings.
STRONG demand and a continued recovery in the global aviation industry led Singapore Airlines’ (SIA) net profit to soar to S$1.2 billion for the second half ended March, reversing a loss of S$125.2 million in the corresponding year-ago period.
The group’s H2 earnings were up 32.7 per cent, or S$303 million higher, compared with the first half ended September 2022.
The stronger second-half bottom-line results helped the group post its highest full-year net profit in its 76-year history to S$2.2 billion for FY2022/23, versus a net loss of S$962 million in FY2021/22, the company said in a bourse filing on Tuesday (May 16).
SIA’s board has recommended a final dividend of S$0.28 per share. Including the interim dividend of S$0.10 per share, the total dividend payout for the fiscal year stands at S$0.38 per share.
Analysts all upbeat on SIA as final dividend came as a ‘positive surprise’
Analysts are all upbeat on Singapore Airlines’ (SIA) prospects after the airline posted a record set of earnings for the FY2022/FY2023 ended March 31 on May 16.
UOB Kay Hian analyst Roy Chen has upgraded his call to “hold” with a higher target price of $5.75 from $5.35 previously as SIA’s final dividend of 28 cents came as a “positive surprise”. Including its interim dividend of 10 cents, SIA’s total dividend of 38 cents for the year translates to a yield of 6.3%, Chen points out.
“Our new target price is based on an FY2024 P/B of 1.19x, 1 standard deviation or s.d. above SIA’s historical mean P/B of 1.03x since FY2010,” he writes.
CGS-CIMB Research analyst Raymond Yap has kept his “hold” call on SIA with a slightly higher target price of $6.15 and $6.14 as he sees the airline’s share price being supported by the “strong” final dividend of 28 cents.
OCBC Investment Research analyst Ada Lim has also kept her "hold" call with a higher fair value estimate of $6.50 from $6.47 previously.
DBS Group Research analysts Paul Yong, Jason Sum and Tabitha Foo have kept their “buy” calls after SIA’s record earnings, with an unchanged target price of $6.80, which is above the consensus average and the highest among the analysts so far.
Citi Research analysts Kaseedit Choonnawat and Lu Xu have also kept their “buy” call after SIA’s core earnings for the FY2022/FY2023 stood 4% above their estimates. The analysts have also kept their target price unchanged at $6.41 after the airline gave positive guidance for passenger demand in June 2023, which is primarily driven by East Asia.