Singapore Airlines’ stock tops global peers on record profits

Singapore Airlines Ltd.’s 32% rally in the past three months tops gains among global airline stocks after it posted record profit, driven by pent-up demand.

The shares are trading at their highest level in five years, with the advance accelerating last month after the carrier reported its highest-ever annual net income as travel resumed following Covid. The stock is the top performer on the Bloomberg World Airlines Index for the period since March 13.

It rose more than 2% on Tuesday, poised for a 10th-straight day of gains, its longest win streak since 2008. Analysts see further positives for the stock, which is still 45% below its all-time high set in 2000.

“Passenger traffic is yet to fully reach pre-Covid levels, and seasonally higher summer travel for the Northern Hemisphere is just taking off,” said Thilan Wickramasinghe, an analyst at Maybank Securities Pte. “Plus, there are expectations of rising travel demand from China in the second half as the county’s reopening progresses.”

While airlines globally have seen business gradually improve since the pandemic, some investors have grown cautious on the sector overall amid high fares, threats of recession and China’s uneven recovery. Singapore Airlines’ outperformance may be in part due to perceptions of advantages over other carriers.

“SIA’s investment in premium branding – such as offering free wifi on all cabin classes – should enable them to defend market share, even as more competitor capacity takes to the air,” said Wickramasinghe. “The group was proactive in getting flight capacity online early and has better staffing strength given lower retrenchments during the pandemic.”