Just a heads-up for any traders out there. Easyjet seems to be bouncing back after its 20% fall during the week.

MM's seem to be walking the price up.

Right now we have EZJ Bid: 608.5p Offer: 609p Change: 11, was up 13 a few minutes back.

StockMarketWire.com
Budget airline easyJet said seats flown grew by 4.1% to 16.1 million in the quarter to end-December. Passengers carried increased by 4.2% to 14.3 million, and the load factor increased by 0.1 percentage points to 88.7%.

Revenue per seat grew as expected by 3.4% on a reported basis to £55.71 per seat or by 1.4% at constant currency despite strong prior year comparators from post-Olympic trading in the UK and a challenging competitive environment. The growth in revenue per seat was driven by careful management of capacity, combined with the performance of allocated seating and the management of fees and charges. Revenue per seat also benefited from longer average sector lengths in the quarter.

Cost per seat excluding fuel increased by 3.0% on a reported basis and by 1.2% on a constant currency basis. This was driven by anticipated increases in charges at regulated airports and by increases in maintenance costs associated with the planned ageing of the fleet and increased proportion of leased aircraft.

easyJet announced a new base in Naples which will be operational from Spring 2014 and the routes which will be flown from its new base in Hamburg.

The group had a strong balance sheet with cash and money market deposits of £1.1 billion as at 31 December 2013.

With first half bookings in line with last year, easyJet expects to report a first half loss before tax of between £70 million and £90 million assuming normal levels of disruption compared to the £61 million loss reported in the first half of last year. Last year Easter fell on 31 March resulting in £25 million additional revenue in the first half of 2013. In this financial year Easter will fall in April.

Carolyn McCall, CEO, said:

"easyJet has made a good start to the year. We have delivered revenue per seat growth in the quarter against a challenging competitive environment and the tough comparison with the prior year. The performance in the quarter demonstrates our continued focus on cost, progress against our strategic priorities and easyJet's structural advantage in the European short-haul market against both the legacy and low-cost competition.

Our strategy of offering our customers low fares to great destinations with friendly service and a focus on cost control ensures that we can continue to deliver sustainable growth and returns for our shareholders."

easyJet upgraded by Investec
25th March 2014, 15:20

Investec has upgraded its recommendation on easyJet [LON:EZJ] to ‘buy’ from ‘hold’ after the company released a trading update and stated that it expects to deliver a first half performance ahead of previous guidance.

The broker put the guidance beat down to cost savings being realised ahead of schedule and solid but expected yield growth, with revenue per seat up by 1.5 per cent, despite the busy Easter period falling into the second half of the year.

Analysts have upped their price target slightly to 1,800 pence per share (previously 1,750 pence).

Separately, Credit Suisse repeated its bullish ‘outperform’ investment rating and increased its price target to 2,021 pence a share from 1,980 pence.

The broker said: “We continue to see EZJ as a multi-year value proposition, and reiterate our view expressed in our Ideas Engine note "Network quality presents margin opportunity" on 13 January 2014 that EZJ should be able to capitalise on attractive medium term volume and pricing opportunities.”

Meanwhile, Numis and Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed ‘add’ and ‘hold’ calls, respectively.

Cantor said: “Solid trading and lower losses guided, some investors might be disappointed that the revised guidance was not better with strong recent traffic data, poor UK weather and a healthy ski season.”

At 3:17pm: easyJet share price was up 67.5 pence at 1,699.5 pence.

Charles Stanley Broker Comments......

Credit Suisse ups target on 'multi-year value proposition' easyJet
25 March 2014 10:56

Analysts at Credit Suisse have lifted their price target on shares of easyJet to 2,021p from 1,988p following today´s pre-close trading update and improved guidance for the first half of 2014 from the budget airline, while reiterating their 'outperform' recommendation on the shares.

Significantly, they point out how the stock is now trading on an enterprise value-to-operating profits ratio of 8.3 times and a price-to-earnings multiple of 14.6 times, both represent a discount to its main peer RyanAir despite easyJet's higher returns and cash flow generation. Hence, they believe easyJet should trade at a premium.

As a result of better pricing and lower cost inflation they now estimate that easyJet will post a smaller loss before tax for the first half of £56m, versus the £67m which they had previously been forecasting.

For the full year Credit Suisse raised their pre-tax profit estimate 2% to £576m and their price target by another 2% to 2,021p.

"We continue to see easyJet as a multi-year value proposition", the broker said, adding that the company should be able to capitalise on attractive medium term volume and pricing opportunities.

As of 11:53 shares of the firm were higher by 4.47% at 1,710p.

AB

Related Companies: EZJ

easyJet upgraded by Numis
31st March 2014, 14:47

Numis has upgraded its recommendation on easyJet [LON:EZJ] to an outright ‘buy’ (from ‘add’) believing the company could benefit further from the structural changes taking place within the European short-haul market.

The broker also reckons the low cost carrier could return at least £500 million, by way of special dividends, over the coming three years which would equate to around 130 pence per share.

Analysts have increased their price target to 2,100 pence per share from 1,900 pence.

Separately, Investec upgraded its recommendation on the airline carrier to ‘buy’ from ‘hold’, on Tuesday, after the company announced that it expects to deliver a first half performance ahead of previous guidance.

Meanwhile, Deutsche Bank repeated its ‘buy’ recommendation (price target upgraded to 1,935 pence a share from 1,560 pence) in a note to clients, on Wednesday.

Following the various changes of opinion since the last week’s update from easyJet, Broker Forecasts consensus data highlights that 67 per cent of brokers rate the shares as an ‘add’ or ‘buy’, 22 per cent as a ‘hold’ or ‘neutral’ and 11 per cent as a ‘reduce’ or ‘sell’.

Citywire 2/04/2014

EasyJet investors set for £500m windfall
Numis has upgraded EasyJet (EZJ.L) from ‘add’ to ‘buy’ as it highlighted that the budget airline could return around £500 million, or 130p per share, through special dividends over the next three years.

It increased its target price from £19 to £21, arguing EasyJet could benefit from structural changes to short-haul aviation in Europe. Yesterday EasyJet shares gained 7p to £17.18. They have risen nearly 12% this year.

One of these changes is the broadening of the European Union’s ‘Common Aviation Area’ through agreements struck with neighbouring countries. ‘In our opinion, this liberalisation will continue to offer opportunity for European low-cost carriers, including EasyJet, even though EasyJet’s core markets are already fully liberalised,’ said Numis analyst Wyn Ellis.

He added the company was also well poised to take further market share from ‘legacy’ [non-low-cost] airlines in its current markets.

‘Non-low-cost carriers account for 53% of the traffic at EasyJet’s top 20 airports, of which only 12% is estimated to be traffic connecting to long-haul flights; 41% is on point-to-point routes. In our opinion, this represents a major growth opportunity for EasyJet,’ he said.

been a good little earner this one .... have traded several times and am currently long .... thanks sticky for a couple of months back!

just going to revisit DOM to see what upside there may be there

bot first clip in 2007 and after a shaky start this stock is now performing well so added a few more today-think Stelios sold a little bit too early but I guess he can afford it

Passenger Statistics for March 2014

easier this way :-)

Easyjet Plc
Passengers up 4.8 percent to 5,107,676
Load factor 91.5%

Excelent figures . Anything more than 4% was pre results considered to be top bombing.

Watch out for broker updates and perhaphs upgrades..............

BRIEF-Easyjet passenger numbers up 4.8 percent in March

04 Apr 2014 - 07:34
LONDON, April 4 (Reuters) – Easyjet Plc
Passengers up 4.8 percent to 5,107,676
* Load factor 91.5%
Source text for Eikon: [ID:nRSD0185Ea] Further company coverage: [EZJ.L]
Keywords: EASYJET/BRIEF

Contributing to FTSE 100's rise were shares of EasyJet PLC (EJTTF.NaE) up 2.1% after the company said the number of passengers it carried in March rose 4.8% to 5.1 million from the same month a year ago. Load factor, or the percentage of seats filled with passengers, rose to 91.5% from 90.5% a year earlier.
EasyJet's (EJTTF.NaE) March traffic suggests momentum, said Credit Suisse analyst Neil Glynn in a note Friday. With volumes for carrier Ryanair Holdings PLC down due to the timing of the Easter holiday, 'we consider this a strong performance on a tough comparative,' Glynn wrote.

04 Apr 2014 easyJet PLC EZJ Credit Suisse Outperform 1,836.00 1,791.00 2,021.00 2,021.00 Reiterates

SP TARGET 2,021p

sticky - go to ftse thread for a minute and read about latest usa employment numbers

Saw them ages ago on twitter.

They get them first before anyone.

Always leaked up thier about 15 mins before they come out.

If I traded indicies these days Id have one hell of an advantage.

Stupid isnt it, figs that miss are better news than figs that beat due to tapering.

Always leaked up thier about 15 mins before they come out ....... pretty doubtful assertion, even if that someone's sleeping with Yellen

Hey no kidding. Dont forget you get the big yank trusts and brokers on their. They seem to be a lot more relaxed than our market.

Credit Suisse upbeat on easyJet after March traffic growth
04 April 2014 12:34

Credit Suisse has retained its 'outperform' recommendation on budget airline easyJet, saying that the company's March traffic statistics on Friday show good momentum and a creditable performance.

The company said the number of passengers in March rose by 4.8% to 5,107,676 compared to a year earlier. The load factor, the number of passengers to the number of seats available, increased to 91.5% from 90.5% in the same month of 2013.

The broker forecasts a £56m pre-tax loss for easyJet's first half, towards the lower end of guidance for a loss of £55-65m, "with March traffic seemingly supportive".

For the full year ending September 2014, the bank is looking for a pre-tax profit of £576m, up from £478m the previous year, with results helped by the timing of Easter which will be in the third quarter.

Credit Suisse said that easyJet trades at 16 times' prospective earnings, in line with sector peer Ryanair.

"It has closed a 10% valuation gap to Ryanair over the past two weeks yet having surpassed Ryanair returns/cash flow generation in 2013, we think it should trade at a premium.

"We continue to see easyJet as a multi-year value proposition, and re-iterate our view [...] that easyJet should be able to capitalise on attractive medium-term volume and pricing opportunities."

The bank kept its 2,021p target price for the stock, which was up 2.5% at 1,835p by 12:54 on Friday.

BC

Related Companies: EZJ

155 - if what you say is true, then categorically, cash dow would also have reacted before the event - which of course it did not

================

more importantly ......
i would have thought there ought to be some reflection in TCG's next numbers

Well im not telling porkies at least 3 yank tweets at about 1.17 giving the exact figures AND both the FTSE and DOW DID start first dropping a little then going higher.

You must have seen it.