The IAG (LSE:IAG) share price was vastly undervalued, based on Metropolis and Wall Road analysts. After I coated the inventory in early August, the airline operator was buying and selling at a 42.8% low cost to the typical share price goal.

So, why has the inventory began shifting towards its share price goal? And can it go greater from right here?

Let’s discover.

New catalysts

There are a number of causes the IAG share price is buying and selling greater.

First is the choice, reported on 1 August, to scrap the proposed takeover of Air Europa. This removes important regulatory dangers, significantly from the European Union’s antitrust regulators, and alleviates considerations about potential fines and operational disruptions.

A day later, IAG reported robust monetary outcomes for the primary half of 2024, with revenues growing by 8.4% 12 months on 12 months to €14.7bn and working revenue rising to €1.3bn.

The corporate, which owns manufacturers like British Airways and Iberia, additionally achieved a considerable discount in web debt, down 31% to €6.4bn, additional strengthening the steadiness sheet.

New dividend, stable outlook

In a lift for shareholders, IAG additionally introduced a return to dividend funds with a €0.03 interim dividend. Whereas that’s nice for traders, it additionally indicators administration’s confidence within the firm’s monetary well being.

Trying ahead, administration strengthened this assured outlook with a progress technique that features a capability enhance of 4%-5% by way of 2026 and an bold goal for working margins of 12%-15%.

Analysts venture earnings progress of 4.8% yearly till 2026, supported by robust demand in core markets like North America and Latin America.

This isn’t a world-beating tempo of progress, however airways are cyclical. We’ve lately skilled two years of extremely robust fare progress, which in the long term, is unsustainable.

And for context, Ryanair introduced a 46% fall in Q1 earnings in July, noting that summer season fares could be materially decrease.

As such, analysts’ forecasts for IAG appears fairly robust.

The underside line on IAG

If there’s a slowdown in demand for air journey, IAG could also be higher positioned than its low-cost friends. That’s just because it has a extra different providing, catering to enterprise journey and providing extra seating choices.

That’s one thing I actually like about IAG.

I additionally like that it’s much less reliant on Boeing than Ryanair and most US-listed airways. Boeing’s high quality and supply points have resulted in decrease capability throughout the business.

So, there should be one thing value worrying about? Effectively, debt is a priority. Internet debt sits round €6.4bn, and that’s round half the market cap.

At present, servicing that debt doesn’t seem problematic, but when we had been to see some shocks — e.g., a big bounce in gasoline costs — and earnings had been to fall, debt would turn into extra problematic.

Nonetheless, I’m personally nonetheless bullish on IAG. I’m anticipating modest earnings progress from an organization that trades at simply 5.3 instances ahead earnings and an EV-to-EBITDA ratio of three.2 instances.

It could be a bit pricier than easyJet, nevertheless it has a extra different providing, and it’s rather a lot cheaper than Ryanair and different US shares.