It is no surprise that these tech stocks have performed well over the past year, if we consider what they have been doing. Tesla, for example, produced over 500,000 vehicles in 2020 and finished off its sixth consecutive profitable quarter.

If we turn to Zoom next, it is not hard to see why this US video-conferencing company has been so successful over the past year. So many people globally have made the switch from face-to-face to online – from working, to teaching to socialising. Zoom’s revenues for 2020 reflected this demand, which rose 88% from 2019 to $622.7 million.

You could say these tech stocks have been the real winners of the Covid-19 pandemic, but are they over-valued and a little over-priced to add to my portfolio? I might exhibit a little caution.

Anyway, if these tech stocks are the winners, who have been the losers over the past year? There have been some howlers!

Travel and leisure stocks have not fared well over the past year due to Covid-19 and several UK national lockdowns.

IAG, which owns British Airways, Iberia and Vueling, saw its shares fall 66% since March 2020. In February of this year, IAG announced it had lost approximately €7bn as a result of Covid-19 due to the limits on international travel. Even while running during 2020, most flights were limited to 20% capacity.

Another travel firm hit by the Covid-19 pandemic is Norwegian Cruise Line whose shares have fallen 41% over the past year. In May 2020, it faced a liquidity crisis but was subsequently bailed out by “different investment sources”. The final death knell came from the US Centre for Disease Control and Prevention which stated that it doesn’t expect cruises to restart before June 2021.

Overall, it would be fair to say that there have been real winners – tech stocks – and real losers over the past year depending on what sector you look at. The big question is whether the demand for the services offered by these tech companies will continue post-Covid-19? If so, I might add these techs stocks to my portfolio for the long term. As for the other stocks in the travel, leisure, hospitality and retail sectors the only way is up (right?) once lockdown measures ease.

The post Have tech stocks been the real winners of the Covid-19 pandemic? appeared first on The Motley Fool UK.

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Sabuhi Gard has no position in any share mentioned. The Motley Fool UK has no position in any share mentioned. Views expressed on the companies mentioned in this article are those of the writer and therefore may differ from the official recommendations we make in our subscription services such as Share Advisor, Hidden Winners and Pro. Here at The Motley Fool we believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors.

The property shares I am talking about today are online portal Rightmove (LSE: RMV) and UK housebuilder Redrow (LSE: RDW). Both have grabbed my attention recently, not only because of the extension of the stamp duty holiday until the end of June (this was previously going to end on March 31^st, before Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak extended the deadline in his Spring Budget) but also because the recent prediction by upmarket estate agent Savills that UK house prices are set to rise by 4% this year, buoyed by a ‘return to normal’ and Covid-19 vaccinations hopes.

So, let’s look at the nitty gritty: why should I add these property shares to my portfolio right now? Well, over the past year Rightmove’s shares have risen by 21%, which is not bad. The company also believes the UK property market is very strong, in fact the strongest it has seen for a decade.

The general health of the UK housing market aside, despite reporting disappointing full-year number in February – pre-tax profits fell to £134.8m from £213.6m the year before – Rightmove said it was resuming dividend payments, recommending a final dividend of 4.5p a share for 2020, and its share buyback programme. Site traffic grew 31%, with time on the site over the year at 15.9bn minutes, up from 12.1bn minutes in 2019 and site visits of 2.1bn, up from 1.6bn.

But what are the turn-offs with the stock? Well, the UK property bubble might well be a ‘false boom’ created by the stamp duty holiday. Rightmove had to offer discounts to customers during the coronavirus pandemic, and its full-year revenue took a hit because of it.

Meanwhile, broker Liberum rates the stock at “hold”, and said the firm’s results were broadly in line with its expectations.

On to my other contender, one of the UK’s largest housebuilders Redrow. Its shares have risen 74% over the past year, no doubt helped by the stamp duty holiday extension, like other property shares. Its first-half pre-tax profits rose to £174m and the firm reinstated its dividend. Redrow attributed the rise in the first half to pent-up demand from the first national lockdown and the ‘Help to Buy’ scheme which drove sales.

Ben Nuttall, analyst at research firm Third Bridge, said Redrow had benefitted as the “stamp duty cliff edge many predicted simply hasn’t materialised”.

“Indeed, house prices remain relatively stable, although some price deceleration now seems likely as we look further into 2021,” he added.

“April’s changes to the government’s ‘Help to Buy’ scheme may be Redrow’s next challenge. The new scheme will only provide equity loans at a lower house price and this could trigger increased competition in Redrow’s core focus, families aspiring to a larger home market.”

Overall, I am encouraged to hold these two property shares due to the reinstatement of their dividends alone, but whilst keeping one eye on the direction of the UK housing market.

The post Why I’d buy these 2 property shares to ride the UK housing boom appeared first on The Motley Fool UK.

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Sabuhi Gard has no position in any of the shares mentioned. The Motley Fool UK has recommended Redrow and Rightmove. Views expressed on the companies mentioned in this article are those of the writer and therefore may differ from the official recommendations we make in our subscription services such as Share Advisor, Hidden Winners and Pro. Here at The Motley Fool we believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors.

One of the UK’s largest investment trusts, in my opinion Scottish Mortgage is famous for two things: its holdings – Tesla, Amazon and Alibaba to name but a few stellar US tech stocks – and the c.365% rise in its shares over the past five years. However, sadly not for its dividend of 0.3%, according to the latest ‘divided heroes’ table from the Association of Investment Companies (AIC).

So, if I’m looking for a bigger dividend, should I turn to Scottish Mortgage’s peers in the Global Sector? I will indeed, as I look to expand my SIPP portfolio!

Several of Scottish Mortgage’s peers in the Global sector deliver a far better dividend. For example, Scottish Investment Trust (LSE: SCIN), which has a substantial 3.2% yield at the time of writing, or Witan Investment Trust (LSE: WTAN) which has a yield of 2.4%. Both offer a marginally better dividend than Scottish Mortgage, but their shares’ performance has varied over a five-year period. A rise of over 43.5% over a five-year period is pretty healthy for Witan Investment Trust’s share price, and Scottish Investment’s shares have risen a modest 22% in the past five years.

Witan Investment Trust is less technology focused compared to Scottish Mortgage Investment Trust, preferring to focus on stalwarts like Tesco and Unilever. Scottish Investment Trust’s holdings focus on different companies, like US banking giant Wells Fargo and UK telecoms leviathan BT.

Scottish Investment Trust’s objective is to “provide long-term above average returns through a diversified portfolio of international equities and to achieve dividend growth ahead of UK inflation”. Meanwhile, Witan’s objective is to “achieve an investment total return exceeding that of the benchmark of the Company over the longer term, together with growth in the dividend ahead of inflation through active investment in global equities”.

Both Witan and Scottish Investment Trust are very much investments for the long term, with both companies looking to achieve dividend growth ahead of inflation, which is more than can be said for their peer Scottish Mortgage Investment Trust.

Although Scottish Mortgage has succeeded in an impressive share price increase over the years, it has recently been knocked back due to the volatility of Tesla’s and Amazon’s shares which forms a significant part of its holdings – a weighting of 8.89% for Tesla and a weighting of 6.55% for Amazon. This volatility might be repeated in the future.

The post Scottish Mortgage Investment Trust: 2 peers paying bigger dividends appeared first on The Motley Fool UK.

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John Mackey, CEO of Whole Foods Market, an Amazon subsidiary, is a member of The Motley Fool’s board of directors. Sabuhi Gard owns shares of Scottish Mortgage Investment Trust in their SIPP. The Motley Fool UK has recommended Tesco and Unilever. Views expressed on the companies mentioned in this article are those of the writer and therefore may differ from the official recommendations we make in our subscription services such as Share Advisor, Hidden Winners and Pro. Here at The Motley Fool we believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors.

On March 9^th, Open Orphan further grabbed my attention (and I thought of the company as a possible contender for my SIPP) when its subsidiary Venn Life Science secured a contract with Oxford BioTherapeutics in order to advance a breast cancer trial study.  

Open Orphan seemed to be a on a roll in winning new business and, for diversification purposes, adding some pharma to my portfolio would be beneficial in the long term.

The firm said the contract was for a phase 1, open-label dose finding study, which would assess the safety, tolerability, pharmacokinetics and preliminary efficacy of ‘OBT076’, a CD205-directed antibody-drug conjugate, in recurrent and metastatic CD205-positive solid tumours and in women with CD205-positive HER2-negative metastatic breast cancer.

The breast cancer trial, if successful, could play a role in beating the fourth most common cause of cancer death in the UK, according to charity Cancer Research.

Open Orphan’s executive chairman Cathal Friel said: “This deal further demonstrates Open Orphan’s ability to execute on its significant pipeline of contracts with important pharmaceutical businesses.”

Expanding market

Over the past six months, the market for vaccine development and testing has grown rapidly, largely due to the outbreak of Covid-19. There is no doubt that this factor has benefited Open Orphan’s shares, and perhaps one of the reasons why the AIM-traded firm’s market capitalisation is growing – currently standing at £192m.

Open Orphan believes that governments and international pharmaceutical companies are making ‘catch-up’ investments in all types of vaccine development to ensure the effects of any global pandemic can be mitigated in the future. This will have a knock-on effect for Open Orphan’s hVIVO facility, the firm’s other commercial specialist service business.

Winning new contracts, an expanding vaccine development market and world class facilities – Open Orphan has Europe’s only 24-bedroom quarantine clinic with onsite virology – all make Open Orphan’s shares an attractive buy for me.

But what are the negatives? There are a few.

The pandemic has created a new type of “gold rush” in Covid-19 pharmaceutical and biotech shares, which might inevitably come to an end. Open Orphan shares could be the victim of hype and over-valuation, and there is a possible danger of buying this share at the top.

Back in October 2020, Open Orphan’s own brokers downplayed the prospects for the company’s share price despite securing a £10m Covid-19 challenge contract with the government. Arden Partners issued a buy rating on the stock with a target price of 32p, and joint broker finnCap also appeared to be backing a conservative outlook indicating a target price of 28p, with the shares trading around 29p today.

The post Is it too late to buy Open Orphan shares? appeared first on The Motley Fool UK.

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Sabuhi Gard has no position in any of the shares mentioned. The Motley Fool UK has no position in any of the shares mentioned. Views expressed on the companies mentioned in this article are those of the writer and therefore may differ from the official recommendations we make in our subscription services such as Share Advisor, Hidden Winners and Pro. Here at The Motley Fool we believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors.

Ocado’s trajectory shows no sign of abating, although the online supermarket’s shares experienced a slight wobble in February this year – a fall of around 25% compared to its current share price. In a recent report by retail consultancy Kantar, take-home grocery sales rose by 12.5% in the 12 weeks to 21 February.

Fraser McKevitt, head of retail and consumer insight at Kantar, said: “The pandemic has now been making its mark on our lives and completely changing the way we shop for a full year.

“Various hospitality restrictions mean that we’ve eaten an extra 7bn meals at home since spring 2020. Office tea rounds were replaced by brews in our own kitchens, and we drank an additional 2bn cups of tea in the house this year.

“Overall, shoppers have spent £15.2bn more on groceries during the pandemic – around £4,800 per household on average, an increase of £500 compared with normal times.”

Kantar added that Ocado had seen sales growth of 35.3% in the latest 12 weeks, easing its market share up to 1.7%.

Should I buy Ocado shares?

Ocado’s shares could be viewed as pricey, nearing the 2,100p mark, but the online grocery still looks attractive – 50% of its retail business is now owned by M&S. Sales are booming thanks to lockdown (if there are any silver linings?) and Kantar predicts that a proportion of first-time online delivery shoppers are likely to stick with this for the long term.

Let’s look at Ocado’s recent full-year results from February. Revenue of £2.2bn was just over 35% higher than last year, despite higher costs including pandemic-related expenses. Cash profits more than doubled to £148.5m.

For 2021, Ocado expects double digit percentage revenue growth in UK Solutions & Logistics, and invoiced fees for International Solutions fees to rise 30%.

All very positive.

On the one hand, some analysts believe Ocado’s shares will rise. Berenberg has reiterated its “buy” stance with a target price of 2,925p. However, Barclays has recently reiterated its “underweight” stance as it said it was disappointed and surprised that “2020 did not see any new deals inked”.

The bank noted that Ocado’s £20bn valuation depends on it building a steadily bigger pipeline of Customer Fulfilment Centre orders. Although the early evidence is that its first international facilities are working well and will generate follow-on orders, Ocado will likely need to attract new grocery customers to justify the valuation, it said. The bank has a 1,600p price target for Ocado’s shares.

The jury is out.

However, with the pandemic boosting the online grocery market, not temporarily, and the might of M&S behind Ocado, I’m a happy holder of the shares in my SIPP. What’s more, the online supermarket has even reassured investors about its post-Brexit supply chain, which is music to my ears!

The post Ocado shares: a post-pandemic surprise? appeared first on The Motley Fool UK.

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Sabuhi Gard owns shares in Ocado. The Motley Fool UK has no position in any of the shares mentioned. Views expressed on the companies mentioned in this article are those of the writer and therefore may differ from the official recommendations we make in our subscription services such as Share Advisor, Hidden Winners and Pro. Here at The Motley Fool we believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors.

The FA Premier League said Sky had won five of the seven TV packages, paying £4.2bn for the privilege, while rival BT paid £960m for the other two in a record TV rights auction. Sky also won the key Sunday afternoon games.

BT will have exclusive rights to the Champions League from next season, but will lose its early Saturday kick-off to Sky. The deal will run for three years from 2016.

Sky paid 83% more than it did in the last round three years ago. BT paid 18% more and has increased the number of live matches it will show from 38 to 42 a year. BT will pay £320m per season, against £246m per season at present.

The previous three-year deal cost Sky and BT around £3bn; this time it was over £5bn – 71% higher than the costs of the rights between 2013-2016.

After the auction, Sky admitted the amount it paid for the TV rights was about £330m more than analysts had forecast.

The results of the auction means it will cost the two broadcasters an average of £10.19m per game to show a single Premier League match, (as reported by the BBC).

So where does this deal leave Sky and BT?

For both these companies, it is a “win, win” situation. For Sky, paying for a “luxury brand” like the Premier League will drive subscriptions to its basic and premium TV, HD and Over-the-Top services, as well as its broadband and telephony services. For BT, no doubt this deal will attract more customers to its BT Sport channels and broadband products.

Where does this deal leave Sky and BT customers?

Sky customers seem to be the better off according to media analysis company Ampere Research. For every TV customer, Sky spends £125 on sports, of which £89 goes to the Premier League; by way of comparison, BT spends £209 per TV customer a year on the Premier League – a dramatic 134% more than Sky.

Where does this deal leave investors in both companies?

Some investors may think that BT and Sky have stretched their budgets when it comes to spending on these Premier League matches — but what’s new?  Sky’s shares have been up 7% over the last year compared to a 6% hike for the wider FTSE 100. In comparison, BT’s shares have risen 16% over the last year, as compared to a 4% hike for the wider FTSE 100, and this news seems to have been well received by the market. 

Sam Hart, analyst at Charles Stanley, says: “Whilst Premier League football can clearly be a key factor in the decision to take up a Sky subscription, we highlight that Sky Sports customers watch a wide variety of sports and that Sky also attracts many customers who do not subscribe to a Sky Sports package at all. The BT Sport proposition remains much narrower than Sky Sports and should probably be viewed as a supplement to a Sky subscription rather than a substitute.”

The post Sky plc Beats BT Group plc In Battle For Premier League Football Rights appeared first on The Motley Fool UK.

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Sabuhi Gard has no position in any shares mentioned. The Motley Fool UK has recommended Sky. We Fools don't all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors.

UK bank shares took a tumble when the Financial Ombudsman earlier last week said they had received up to 4,000 complaints (a week) about mis-sold loan insurance. The overall figure, however, is thought to be much larger — around 2 million UK customers.

UK customers believe they have been mis-sold insurance to cover events such as credit card fraud. The Financial Conduct Authority said 11 lenders and card issuers had voluntarily agreed to compensate customers including Barclays (LSE: BARC), HSBC (LSE: HSBA.), Lloyds Banking Group (LSE: LLOY) and Royal Bank of Scotland (LSE: RBS).

Where does another mis-selling scandal leave the UK High Street banks?

Lloyds has so far set aside £11.3bn for compensation for the mis-selling of loan insurance, more than any other bank. Lloyds set aside nearly £10bn worth of PPI compensation — more than any of the “Big Four”. Barclays, Royal Bank of Scotland and HSBC have also set aside billions of pounds of compensation, which will have a knock-on effect for their balance sheets.

In relation to PPI mis-selling, Barclays set aside £3.95bn of which £2.7bn has been paid out. Royal Bank of Scotland has taken a total charge of £3.1bn, and paid out £2.2bn.

With the “Big Four” narrowly passing the Bank of England “stress tests” before Christmas, the future doesn’t look rosy. Should investors therefore invest elsewhere?

Barclays is still mired by the Libor-fixing scandal. Lloyds is planning 9,000 job cuts and 200 branch closures; the government is scaling back its stake in the bank to 20% over the next six months by drip-feeding up to £3bn of Lloyds’ shares into the stock market in the run-up to the general election in May, which may place an “unwelcome cap” on the share price. Finally, Lloyds has yet to resume dividend payments. However, analysts at Shore Capital predict that Lloyds could start with a final dividend for 2014 payable in the spring, estimating a payment of 1.5p per share.

Royal Bank of Scotland, as well as being rocked by this new loan mis-selling scandal, has confessed to misleading some small business customers as part of the £2.3bn of loans the bank has made under the Enterprise Finance Guarantee (EFG) scheme. RBS, which is 80%-owned by the taxpayer, has been the biggest user of the EFG scheme, which was set up in 2009 to encourage additional lending to small and medium-sized enterprises.

Finally to HSBC, whose share price has been under pressure of late, not helped by broker Investec who lowered its rating for the stock from “Add” to “Hold”, saying that the bank’s upcoming fourth-quarter results could disappoint. The broker said that a weak showing from the bank on February 23rd will “trigger downgrades”, as it lowered its target price for the shares from 650p to 630p.

The post New Mis-selling Scandal Set To Rock Barclays plc, HSBC Holdings plc, Lloyds Banking Group plc & Royal Bank of Scotland Group plc? appeared first on The Motley Fool UK.

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Sabuhi Gard has no position in any shares mentioned. The Motley Fool UK has recommended HSBC Holdings. We Fools don't all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors.

Three of those FTSE 100 companies that issued profit warnings throughout 2014 were part of the “Big Four” UK supermarket collective — Tesco (LSE: TSCO), Sainsbury’s (LSE: SBRYS), Morrisons (LSE: MRW). In this article, I will discuss these profit warnings, why they were issued and whether it is “the point of no return” for Tesco, Sainsbury’s and Morrisons in 2015.

Tesco

One of the UK’s largest supermarkets seemed to be “King of the Profit Warnings” last year, delivering five in total, the last one being on 9 December when the group said its profits will be substantially lower than expected. The group’s chief executive, Dave Lewis, said he expected trading profit for the year ending February 2015 would be no more than £1.4bn. 

The news sent its shares tumbling to a 14-year low of 156p. Tesco’s share price has since recovered and is trading around the 229p mark. However, you cannot ignore the fact that last year Tesco’s shares fell 44%, compared to a 2% hike in the FTSE 100 alone.

Share price aside, the inherent problem with Tesco is that competition from “discounters” Lidl and Aldi is only going to increase this year, not lessen. A number of high-profile senior executives have left the supermarket, and a criminal investigation into accounting irregularities is ongoing. Although Tesco’s CEO has vowed to improve its customer service and cut the price of 1,000 of its groceries, it still has a long way to go.

Sainsbury’s

Back in October last year, Sainsbury’s cut its annual sales forecast and said it would review its dividend as part of a wider strategic business review. Sainsbury’s said it now expected second-half sales at stores open over a year to fall by a similar amount to the 2.1%  fall recorded in the first-half.

No longer under the helm of successful CEO Justin King, this “Big Four” supermarket is suffering and definitely under pressure from discount supermarkets like its rivals. CEO Mike Coupe, who succeeded King in July last year, told the media that market conditions were the most challenging he had experienced in his 30-year career in retail. At the beginning of January, its third-quarter trading update saw some signs of improvement, but its like-for-like sales are still in negative territory.

Morrisons

And finally, onto Morrisons. The supermarket seems to be trailing behind its rival Tesco having ‘only’ issued two profit warnings last year. It was a diastrous year for Morrisons, and it hasn’t got any better in 2015, with another profit warning announcement earlier this month and the sacking of chief executive Dalton Philips after five years — he is due to leave the company in March.

On the upside, Morrisons does have a turnaround strategy in place, and has embarked on a three-year £1bn investment programme, while it has now also ventured online. Investors could either be pleased with this investment programme or frustrated, as they may view it as being “too little too late” due to the discounters snapping at Morrisons’ heels. Alternatively, investors could take a holistic approach and enjoy Morrisons’ dividend yield of 6.9%.

The post Can Tesco PLC, J Sainsbury plc & WM Morrison Supermarkets plc Rise Above Multiple Profit Warnings In 2015? appeared first on The Motley Fool UK.

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Sabuhi Gard has no position in any shares mentioned. The Motley Fool UK owns shares of Tesco. We Fools don't all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors.

Associated British Foods 

Associated British Foods (LSE: ABF) hardly rolls off the tongue unlike some of its products — Ovaltine, Twinings, and Patak (Indian foods), it is also the owner of Primark. ABF might of “struck gold” with its fast-growing retail chain Primark – broker Citigroup recently upgraded the stock from “Neutral” to “Buy”. Last year, pre-tax profits from the fashion unit made up more than half of the group’s total in 2014. 

Over the last 5 years, ABF’s shares have risen more than 250%. The Times’ Tempus Column believes ABF’s shares are a “Sell” are they are beginning to look quite expensive, and their are other income stocks out there yielding  4% to 5%. Other analysts believe in the short-term ie the next 4-6 weeks that the stock will rise further. With regards to ABF’s profits, since 2011 they  have more than doubled to hit £662m last year.  

When ABF reported its latest set of results in mid-Janaury, the group did warn of a “marginal” decline in full year earnings due to the strength of Sterling, profit reduction at its sugar business and a £128m write down from Chinese agricultural operations. So it is indeed a mixed bag for ABF but on the plus side for the company, its balance sheet remains solid.

Sports Direct International 

With a rather controversial founder Mike Ashley, the UK’s biggest sports retailer, Sports Direct (LSE:SPD) goes from strength to strength. The group owns 465 stores with 408 in the UK and some of the rights to brands like Dunlop, Slazenger and Kangol.

Before Christmas, it said group revenues increased by 6.5% year-on-year to £1.4bn, but sales fell in its premium lifestyle and brands divisions. Sports retail sales increased to £1.23bn, helped by an 11.1% increase online to £176m. 

Despite a few wobbles, jobs could be under threat at Sports Direct’s parent company – fashion retailer – USC -the majority of  brokers seem to be indicating the stock as a “Buy”. Numis Securities set a new price target of 850p and reiterated its “Buy” status. The sports retailer has affordable goods on its side, and well-known brands which keeps consumers coming back for more.

The post Why Investors Should Love Associated British Foods plc and Sports Direct plc appeared first on The Motley Fool UK.

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Sabuhi Gard has no position in any shares mentioned. The Motley Fool UK has recommended Associated British Foods and Sports Direct International. We Fools don't all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors.

Passengers are also turning to the low-budget UK airlines and others to escape the “winter blues” in January. I have picked three airline stocks worth investing in or re-visiting, whilst Brent crude continues its’ descent below $50 a barrel and office workers continue to spend their above inflation pay-rise on a dream holiday destination.

easyJet (LSE: EZJ)

This low-budget airline founded by Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou in 1995, reported an upsurge in passenger numbers before Christmas. The load factor – a measure of how full its aircraft were – increased by 0.5 percentage points to 89.5%, with passenger numbers by 3.1% to 4,386,296 in November against the same month in 2013. In November, the Luton-based carrier also reported a rise in annual pre-tax profits by 21.5% to £581m, with a 6.3% rise in revenue to just above £4.5bn. Due to this positive set of results, broker Liberum lifted its target price from 1,650p to 1,725p and repeated its “Buy” recommendation. Liberum analyst Gerald Khoo said although the stock’s valuation is currently at a premium to its five-year average, this is “justified” by the “rapid and dramatic improvement” in the airline’s margins and return on invested capital in recent years.

Ryanair (LSE: RYA) 

Another low-budget airline doing well on the back of the falling oil price is easyJet’s rival, Ryanair. Ryanair’s shares hit a record high in early January, boosted by a rise in passenger numbers to 6.02 million in December. This rise translates to an 88% rise in seat occupancy for the month. The low-budget airline’s profit warnings of 2013 seem a distant memory for investors. It has also scrapped quite a few unpopular policies that weren’t currying favour with potential customers — for instance, Ryanair now allow passengers more carry-on baggage and have cut punitive charges. It has also improved its website and launched a service aimed at business customers. In December, Ryanair raised its forecast for pre-tax profits this year to between £636m-£655m), up from an earlier estimate of £584m-£600m.

International Consolidated Airlines (LSE: IAG)

The owner of British Airways and the Spanish carrier Iberia, ICAG group is currently in pursuit of Aer Lingus. After suffering several rebuffs, it raised its cash offer from an earlier €2.30 to €2.40 per share. If the takeover bid was successful, ICAG would gain more take-off and landing slots at Heathrow, and increase its passengers numbers on one of the world’s busiest routes (London to Dublin). Analysts have talked of the merits of the Aer Lingus merger for ICAG group including strengthening its transatlantic market position. Broker Liberum has reiterated its “Buy” stance, with 16 other brokers viewing the stock as a “Strong Buy”.

The post 3 Airline Stocks Set To Take Off: easyJet plc, International Consolidated Airlines Grp And Ryanair Holdings plc appeared first on The Motley Fool UK.

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Sabuhi Gard has no position in any shares mentioned. The Motley Fool UK has no position in any of the shares mentioned. We Fools don't all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors.