Bombardier’s U.S.-listed American depositary receipts, which trade under the symbol “BRDBF,” were up 9.9% in early trading at $63.43 a share, still some 39% below Epstein’s target price. The S&P 500
SPX
and
Nasdaq Composite COMP
were down less than 0.1% and up less than 0.1%, respectively.
“The mountain’s been climbed, why not take in the view?” wrote Epstein in a Wednesday report. Bombardier worked hard to turn around its business, which included selling its regional-jet business so it could focus on business jets.
Bombardier makes Challenger and Global business-jet brands.
“With Bombardier now focused on harvesting its installed base, growing its aftermarket business, and remaining disciplined on capital deployment, we see opportunities for potential upside,” wrote the analyst, pointing out that business-jet demand is still below 2019 levels.
His new target values Bombardier stock at about 14 times estimated 2025 earnings. Epstein expects earnings will rise more than 60% from 2023 to 2025.
Overall 76% of analysts covering Bombardier stock have Buy ratings. The average Buy-rating ratio for stocks in the S&P 500 is about 55%. The average analyst price target for Bombardier stock is about C$86, or $63.
The early Wednesday jump left shares up about 62% year to date; the gain over the past three months is even steeper—71%—reflecting the recent steep improvement in investor sentiment.
Write to Al Root at allen.root@dowjones.com