Copa Holdings, S.A. (NYSE:CPA)

Very low PEG ratio; solid ROE last 12 months/year; sales/EPS growth ranging from high teens to low 30s last 1/3/5 years; low liabilities-to-assets compared with industry; share-price growth out-performs all other airline stocks; company is well-positioned geographically (Panama) to funnel North/South American air traffic; 2.0% dividend yield -- so, thought I'd take advantage of 2/7/13 "didn't meet analyst's forecasts" drop in price & hope that was good timing.

Copa enjoys a nearly monopoly in their niche markets, and can charge accordingly. A program of sensible expansion has occurred over the past few years. Partner Continental's merger with United can only help, assuming that their agreement remains in place. Growth rate has been much larger than P/E, indicating plenty of room for share price improvement. Debt load is very manageable and is surprisingly low for an airline.

PEG <1 CS TP 62

Speculating: Value Play (low PE/PEG)
Reuters Buy; CS outperform

Airline in Latin America = going up

Since the company doesn't go in for hedging its fuel contracts, it's vulnerable to another spike in oil prices. However, they finished 2008 with earnings only slightly down from 2007. They just added service to Port of Spain and Belo Horizonte (in Brazil, which you would already know if you needed to go there), and actually make money. I doubt the swine flu will make much of a dent in their bookings, but that's just a guess. ROE for the quarter is north of 30%, net margin 15%.

Wow.....a well-run, growing, AND profitable airline....how long since we've seen one of these? Skybus it ain't.

Biggest carrier in the area but small enough to make a profit.

Will come back with a vengeance on temporary oil dips. Long term, anything that dependent on oil is dangerous, but it is extremely cheap today given their history of growth and regional defenses.

Rolling the dice here with a continued barrage of airlines. Copa Holdings is generally another low-cost airlines operating out of 20 different countries throughout North, Central and South America, but is based out of Panama City. The company is relatively small in terms of overall jets owned, but loves to make deals to sell seats on other partner airlines like Continental. They have successfully managed to increase revenues and profits very handsomely for three years running and revenue growth looks to continue at 17% per annum in 2008-2009. What is truly staggering is the operating margin actually dropped to the 15-17% range and that is still far and away higher than 90% of this sector. Huge operating margins, and growing EPS translate to something on the order of 9.5 times forward earnings and a teaser dividend of 0.8%. Technical rounding bottom as well on the 9 months chart. This is also the perfect time to get into airlines with oil having spiked to $102 per barrel recently. If Boone Pickens says to bet against oil, you had better listen and do as he says. A 15% drop in oil from here would have an extremely positive effect on low cost airline companies like Copa.

Nero

Sagetrade

As of close of business on 12/04/2007, this was a 1-star Morningstar stock that was trading at more than double it's Morningstar fair value.

At this price this stock is more than a BUY!!!! I own as well other airline stocks. They are cheap but this stock tops every one. People reaction because of plane crash and oil price was to exceed. Q results will be great and this stock will reach 70$ levels in a few months.

Unions kill airlines. No unions here, and that is really good.

CPA at or below 50 is a steal. Well managed company, new fleet and strong economy in Panama. Basically its only competitor is privately owned TACA, which I would buy if traded at these levels also.

While the growth in Costa Rica is over, the bubble in Panama is just getting started. The growth in Panama is why stocks like Copa Airlines should be on all our watch lists, and maybe even our buy list.

After a week and a half long trip, a colleague and I both came back bullish on Panama, for more than one reason, and in more than one market. It's literally being put on the map, Google just released coverage of the country's roads 2 weeks ago.

Panama is in the spotlight right now, and is growing for more reasons than one. Politics have been stabilized. Freshly paved blacktop roads are sprawling the country along with other major infrastructure changes. These are moves driven by history and the future. The US turned over the control of the panama canal back to Panama, and along with its >$500M per year in revenue, for the country's 3 million people, where 60% are living in poverty. Putting the canal's revenue in context, this is a place where a decent wage is $200US per month. So, this has given a large influx of money to the country. Looking to the future, plans to widen the canal are under way along with changes in taxes for foreign investors.

How big of deal is the widening? They declared a national holiday the week we were there to commemorate the project. Changes to the canal is a >$6 Billion dollar project scheduled to break ground in 2008, and last until 2014. This is going to bring engineers, architects, and all the support staff in droves. Not to mention approximately 140 new condo buildings with permits to break ground, similar to Donald Trump's new $260M investment. These 140 new condos are on top of the already existing field of ocean view skyscrapers spanning the horizon as far as the eye can see in Panama City. So, when these engineers have to get to Panama, there is no doubt they are going to fly. It’s a viable assumption, they will all have family to visit back home. So, guess who is the regional airline, who cited 15.8% traffic growth for August 2007? Copa Airlines.

http://www.copaair.com/html/user/default.aspx?PageId=53&lang=en

While clearly Latin America has been the place to be invested over the past several years, this is a high beta group that could be hard hit in the event of a further sell off. The trend has clearly shifted in CPA towards a bearish biased and investors would be best positioned to short rallies like the one we’ve seen in recent weeks. I recommend setting a stop loss at $52.00.

An absolute gem.

A great stock in a booming market. Copa's growth will continue as the Latin American markets follow their current upward shift.

Ultimatly regional airlines such as CPA will benifit as South and Central American consumers gain weathlier lifestyles and increased disposable incomes. Copa's current fleet is new enough to provide reliable service for years to come.

As Latin American standard of living is rising so is the disposable income. This will enable more people to go places and take more vacations. Business will flourish and therfore business and recreational travel will increase.