The Ryanair share price popped on Thursday after the company raised its guidance for the year. The RYA stock rose to 16.35p, which was substantially higher than the intraday low of 15p. Other airline stocks like IAG, EasyJet, and Wizz Air also rebounded.
Ryanair, the giant budget airline excited the market when it increased its growth target. The firm expects to increase its five-year target to 225 million passengers. This was a 50% increase, which was better than the previous guidance of 33%.
This growth will be helped by the company’s big Boeing 737 Max jets that it has ordered. It will also be helped by opportunistic moves in European airports where its rivals have moved away from during the pandemic.
Ryanair and other budget airlines have recovered at a faster rate than other big companies like British Airlines and Lufthansa because of the ongoing trends in business travel. That’s because tourism and leisure travel has done relatively better than business travel.
Analysts believe that Ryanair is even at a better position to grow through acquisitions. Using its big balance sheet, the firm could acquire one of the several budget airlines like EasyJet and Wizz Air. Just last week, EasyJet said that it had turned down an offer from Wizz Air, which is a sign that there is interest for deals in the region.
The daily chart shows that the RYA share price has been in a tight range in the past few months. The stock has formed a rectangle pattern whose support and resistance levels are at 14.96p and 17.60p, respectively. The stock is also along the 25-day and 15-day moving averages.
Therefore, the stock will likely break out higher in the longer term since this consolidation can be said to be a bullish flag pattern. The breakout will be confirmed if the price moves above the resistance at 17.60p.