Copa Shares Snap Back As The Street Is Reminded Of The Strong Cost Story

Copa’s (CPA) low $70’s share price around Christmas of 2018 will probably go down in my annals of “shouda, couda, wouda”, and maybe ought to serve as a reminder to use a more compelling alert/reminder system. Anyway, while this Latin American airline’s shares had been drifting since February, the shares rebounded strongly after first quarter earnings, as management once again demonstrated its proven (but still occasionally overlooked) cost management ability and maintained a fairly benign outlook for the business, as well as reiterating some encouragement about the Brazilian market later this year.

I still believe Copa is undervalued and buyable here. There are risks that Brazil won’t recover as quickly or as strongly as hoped, and that’s likewise true for Argentina, but I believe the company has been operating well even with things as they are. With a very strong network and operating plan in place, I believe mid-single-digit revenue growth can drive high single-digit EBITDAR growth and support a fair value around $100.

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Copa Shares Snap Back As The Street Is Reminded Of The Strong Cost Story

Turbulence Still Hitting Copa Holdings Hard

One of the last things I said about Copa Holdings (CPA) in my last article on the company was that "adverse forex and higher fuel costs could get worse before they get better", and those twin headwinds are primarily responsible for another 5% decline in the share price since the time of that article. What's more, management's recent investor day offered up a lot of evidence to support a "soft" guidance reduction for the second half of the year - in other words, investors shouldn't be surprised to see some weakness in the third quarter results and some downward margin guidance for the fourth quarter.

It's tough to recommend a stock while expectations are still moving down, particularly when sector valuations are generally predicated on the next 12 months' financial performance. I don't think Copa is the greatest idea out there for investors who need a quick gain and/or who can't or won't accept near-term losses for longer-term gains. On a longer-term basis, though, I continue to believe the valuation is pretty interesting and even those investors not willing to accept the risks and uncertainties today should keep a closer on this one for signs of stabilization over the next three to six months.

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Turbulence Still Hitting Copa Holdings Hard

Seeking Alpha: Copa's Stock Recovery Has Outpaced The Business Recovery

It's pretty much a given that the Street will take stocks far too low in bad times and far too high in good times, so I can't say I'm surprised Copa Holdings' (NYSE:CPA) shares are up more than a third since my write-up in late December, when I thought the shares looked undervalued but still vulnerable to ongoing weakness in major South American economies.

It looks as though 2016 will be the bottom for Copa, but it is hard to feel a lot of confidence that the economies of Brazil, Colombia, and Venezuela are going to stage a strong, fast turnaround. That said, the company has been increasing its exposure to healthier economies like the U.S., while doing a good job of responsibly managing capacity and expenses. I still believe Copa can generate over $4 billion in annual revenue in 2024 and good cash flow, but my fair value hasn't moved nearly as much as the share price, so I don't see the same opportunity that I did in December.

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Copa's Stock Recovery Has Outpaced The Business Recovery

Seeking Alpha: Copa Holdings Looks Undervalued, But Its Markets Likely Haven't Bottomed

Copa Holdings (NYSE:CPA) and Alaska Air (NYSE:ALK) make for an interesting study in contrasts. Both are well-run airlines by most of the metrics that matter, but they operate in very different markets. While Alaska Air continues to benefit from a benign-to-healthy U.S. airline industry environment, Copa is getting crushed by economic turbulence in major markets like Brazil, Venezuela, and Colombia. Since the time of my last article on Copa, the shares have fallen more than 40% while Alaska Air's shares have climbed nearly 25%. That Copa has outperformed GOL (NYSE:GOL) and Avianca (NYSE:AVH) is true, but doesn't put any money back into shareholders' pockets.

I do believe that the current share price discounts the long-term value of Copa, but it's hard to make money in the midst of weak reported results and lower expectations. Likewise, it's worth at least asking why investors should expect any meaningful turnaround in Brazil, Venezuela, or Colombia in the near term, as these are all commodity-driven markets that need a combination of higher oil, base metal, and agricultural prices to lead a turnaround.

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Copa Holdings Looks Undervalued, But Its Markets Likely Haven't Bottomed

Seeking Alpha: Copa Holdings Seeing Turbulence, But Still A Top-Notch Airline

Through the third week of July, my March call to not worry too much about the problems Copa Holdings (NYSE:CPA) was facing in Venezuela seemed like a good one - the shares were up 25% as the company continued to enjoy 20%-plus earnings growth on strong capacity growth and firm pricing. Unfortunately, Copa's second quarter report sourced investors on the shares as management increased its capacity reduction plans for Venezuela and lowered margin guidance as a result, leading to flat net performance relative to my last article.

I'm not sure why the guidance reduction was such a surprise. Avianca (NYSE:AVH) and Gol Linhas (NYSE:GOL) had been reducing exposure to Venezuela and Copa management indicated in May that they'd follow suit, and it was (or should have been) well-known that Venezuela was an uncommonly profitable market for Copa. Copa's update for July trends was not positive, though, and it is going to take some time to work past the Venezuela impact and reassure the Street that this is still a very profitable airline.

I believe Copa is still a good airline, a good growth story, and a good name to own for international diversification. GOL is probably an easier name to own right now (and undervalued in its own right), but I still see solid opportunity at Copa. Even I take a pretty conservative cut to my earlier numbers, I come up with a fair value of close to $140 and $150-plus is not that hard to support.

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Copa Holdings Seeing Turbulence, But Still A Top-Notch Airline

Investopedia: A Great Model And Growing Markets Powering Copa Holdings

This year has turned into a challenging one for emerging market investors, as China remains weak (at least relatively so), Brazil and Mexico seem to be turning in the wrong direction, and multiple Southeast Asian markets sell off on macroeconomic worries. Even so, business continues on at Copa Holdings (NYSE:CPA), where a strong and savvy business plan has led this Latin American airline to not only strong margins and good growth, but solid prospects for the coming years.

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