International Consolidated Airlines (LSE: IAG) has seen its share price charging over the past five months and it shows no signs of letting up yet. The leisure leviathan struck its highest since January 2016 just last week, and total gains since the start of the year alone now stand at 30%.
Yet despite this recent share value sprint, I reckon IAG’s growth and income prospects still make it stunning value at current prices.
The City expects the British Airways operator to experience some bottom-line bother in the medium term as rising fuel costs and adverse currency movements weigh, and have chalked-in an 8% earnings dive for 2017. But this is anticipated to be a temporary problem and a 6% snapback is expected for next year.
Current projections leave IAG dealing on a prospective P/E ratio of 7.5 times, comfortably below the broadly-regarded bargain threshold of 10 times. And this figure does not factor in the massive earnings potential of its transatlantic and low-cost segments, in my opinion.
And IAG married up both markets with the launch of its new Level carrier this week. The service linking the US, Dominican Republic, Argentina and Spain is due to start ferrying passengers from June. The company views this new market as a significant growth driver in the years ahead.
Meanwhile, in the dividend arena, IAG throws out chunky yields of 3.7% and 4% for 2017 and 2018 respectively, figures that take out the Footsie forward mean of 3.5%.
Also jetting ahead…
Investor appetite for fashion play Burberry (LSE: BRBY) has also ignited as signs of improving trading conditions in its core markets have filtered through.
Consequently, what is one of very few true UK luxury fashion brands has seen its share price leap 20% since the bells rang in New Year’s Day. And I believe there is plenty of scope for even more gains.
Not only is Burberry riding the wave of improving luxury spend following a challenging 2016, but the company is investing huge sums in marketing its fashion to drive demand still higher, as well as chucking money at improving its position in the white-hot e-commerce segment. Burberry is now seeing online sales across all regions catching fire, particularly in the massive Chinese marketplace.
The number crunchers expect last year’s earnings blip to be just that, and predict Burberry’s stellar growth story will get back on track with an 8% rise in the year to March 2017. And further rises, of 9%, are anticipated for both fiscal 2018 and 2019.
Admittedly, a forward P/E ratio of 23.5 cannot compare with that of IAG’s on paper, not to mention that of the broader FTSE 100 — the index’s forward average stands at 15 times.
And Burberry’s dividends are also expected to remain short of Britain’s big-caps for some time, with City projections creating yields of 2.1%, 2.3% and 2.5% for the next three years.
Having said that, I believe the strength of Burberry’s evergreen brand merits such a premium, and reckon recent growth initiatives make the firm a great bet to deliver roaring returns in the coming years.
