Ryanair share price soars 3% as investors warm to improving outlook

Summary:

The Ryanair share price is back on a positive flight path after the budget airline released its first-quarter earnings and forward guidance.

The Ryanair share price is back on a positive flight path after the budget airline released its first-quarter earnings and forward guidance.

Ryanair’s (LON: RYA) London-listed share price is higher by 3.24% this morning to 16.24p after reporting a narrower-than-expected loss for the first fiscal quarter of 2021.

Q1 GAAP EPS of -€0.24.
Revenue of €370.5M (+195.9% YoY.

Despite falling short of the consensus €392.60 revenue, the Irish low-cost airline beat the market’s projected loss of €0.26 per share.

Furthermore, a relatively upbeat assessment of the coming quarter’s prospects is helping RYA to a positive trading session.

Based on current (close-in) bookings, we expect traffic to rise from over 5m in June to almost 9m in July, and over 10m in Aug., as long as there are no further Covid setbacks in Europe
Ryanair Holding Group CEO, Michael O’Leary.

The news was welcomed by investors who are now almost breaking even on the year.

Following the March 2020 low, the Ryanair share price gained 100% to finish the year at 16.35p. However, this year the direction has been horizontal and fluctuating between 13.75p and 18.00p.

However, considering a week ago, RYA was changing hands at 14.45p, break-even could be considered a result.

But the key question on investors’ lips is where does the share price go from here.

RYA Technical Outlook

The daily chart shows Ryanair has reclaimed the 200-day moving average at 15.655p. Furthermore, the price has tried to cross the 50 DMA at 16.213p and the 100 at 16.33p. However, despite trading to 16.375p earlier, the price has now retreated below the two.

Should RYA exceed 16.33 on a closing basis, the 2021 high at 18.00 becomes an achievable target for the bulls.

Although, a failure to maintain the 200-day average opens the door to Monday’s 14.47p low. An additional downside target then becomes the June 2020 high at 13.33p.