Worldwide Consolidated Airways’(LSE: IAG) share price has dropped round 73% since 17 January 2020. After that, the consequences of Covid intensified world wide, lowering airline passenger numbers by 90%+ in 2020 and 2021.

With the virus now having retreated, such a price drop may sign a shopping for alternative for me. So, I ran a test on whether or not it’s, starting with enterprise fundamentals.

How does the enterprise look now?

2023 outcomes noticed working revenue practically tripling from €1.3bn to €3.5bn, and revenue after tax jumped from €431m to €2.7bn.

Its working margin greater than doubled from 5.4% to 11.9% and capability recovered near pre-Covid ranges in most of its core markets.

Q1 2024 outcomes noticed working revenue leaping to €68m from €9m in the identical interval final yr.

To this point, so good, so far as I’m involved.

No dividend, however is it undervalued?

Much less good for me is that the corporate has paid no dividends since 2019. Which means my solely prospect of a return from proudly owning the shares at the moment can be from a price rise.

And like all out-and-out progress shares that pay no dividends, this might solely come if I bought the shares. Nevertheless, if there isn’t any worth within the inventory, then any such price rise is unlikely, in my opinion.

Trying on the key share valuation measurements, IAG’s price-to-earnings ratio (P/E) is at the moment 3.6. This does look low cost towards its peer group’s common P/E of 8.5.

How low cost although? A discounted money circulation analysis exhibits the shares to be round 19% undervalued at their current price of £1.69.

This isn’t that a lot of a reduction to honest worth in comparison with a number of different shares I already personal. And there’s no assure the inventory will ever attain that price, in fact.

It’s even much less doubtless given the massive danger overhang, in my opinion. On 24 January, the European Fee (EC) opened an anti-competition investigation into IAG’s plan to purchase out Air Europa. This might result in fines and/or to the modification or cancellation of the deal.

Additional main dangers are rising oil costs that push up jet gas prices and one other pandemic that may cripple air journey once more.

So will I purchase it?

A key think about making good monetary choices is knowing the place one is within the funding cycle.

The youthful an individual is, the extra time they’ll watch for shares to get well from any main price fall. I’m now over 50, and my focus has shifted to minimising danger however maximising common rewards within the type of dividends.

My core high-yield portfolio makes me a mean annual return of 8.5%+, and I’m pleased with this. I even have a couple of progress shares (which additionally pay a reasonable dividend), that I purchased at a lot decrease costs. I’m pleased with these too.

Subsequently, at this level in my funding life, there isn’t any level in me shopping for IAG. If I have been a lot youthful I’d contemplate it, however not earlier than I knew the end result of the EC investigation.