Consumer Discretionary

Ryanair is among the most-mentioned companies across news items over the past six hours, according to Factiva data, after the Irish carrier reported upbeat year-end results and a 700 million euros ($760.9 million) share buyback. However, concerns about its prices weighed on shares. “It might seem counterintuitive that Ryanair’s share price is enduring a bit of turbulence after the low-cost airline announced record passenger numbers and profits, but the prospect that ticket price cuts might be on the way has subdued sentiment,” AJ Bell analyst Danni Hewson said in a note. Ryanair, which reported higher year-end earnings on rising passenger numbers, said summer bookings were trending ahead of their prior-year level. This summer outlook has been echoed by several of the company’s peers, including Lufthansa in Germany, and London-listed easyJet. That said, Ryanair said recent pricing was softer than previously expected and should remain subdued. In addition, the company warned

Ryanair Holdings plc (NASDAQ:RYAAY) Q4 2024 Results Conference Call May 20, 2024 5:00 AM ET Company Participants Michael O’Leary – CEO Neil Soraha – CFO Peter Larkin – Head of IR Michael O’Leary All right. So good morning, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to the Ryanair Full Year Results. I’m Michael O’Leary, the Group CEO. And I’m joined this morning by Neil Sorahan, the Group CFO. Earlier this morning, we published the full year results for the last 12 months ended 31 March, 2024. In that, we recorded a full year profit after tax growth of 34% to an after tax profit of €1.92 billion as traffic grew 9% to 184 million passengers, which is 20% — 23% more than our pre-COVID traffic. The highlights for the last 12 months, start off with the traffic growth of 9% to 184 million passengers. It would have been slightly higher, but for the

Ryanair’s shares are being weighed down by concerns about the low-cost carrier’s ticket pricing, AJ Bell analyst Danni Hewson says in a note to clients. Even if inflationary pressures are easing, customers remain cautious, which could affect the numbers of passengers on Ryanair flights after the summer, the analyst says. The company said that recent ticket prices were softer than it had previously expected, adding that its first quarter would require more so-called price stimulation than the previous year. “It might seem counterintuitive that Ryanair’s share price is enduring a bit of turbulence after the low-cost airline announced record passenger numbers and profits, but the prospect that ticket price cuts might be on the way has subdued sentiment,” the analyst says. Shares trade down 1.3% at EUR18.10.

Ryanair’s higher earnings and its decision to bring back buybacks should drive upgrades to consensus estimates, Bernstein analysts Alex Irving and Tobias Fromme say in a research note. The Irish low-cost carrier had suspended the buybacks since the Covid-19 pandemic.”[Ryanair] is making good on its promise to return excess liquidity to shareholders, and to favor buybacks where the shares look undervalued,” they say. Ryanair’s net profit in the fourth quarter beat expectations by 4.2%, while passenger numbers rose 4.5%. However, the quarterly rise in passengers was below the 7% on-year growth recorded in 3Q, the analysts say. Shares are down 1% at EUR18.15.