Bombardier stock starts to take off as plane sales rise

MONTREAL Bombardier Inc. is flying high — and analysts from Goldman Sachs Group Inc. to Altacorp Capital Inc. say the rally has plenty of room to continue.

The Montreal-based plane maker is heading for its biggest annual stock gain in almost three decades, only two years after its shares dipped below $1.

The private-jet market is rebounding just in time for the debut of the company ’s swank Global 7000. And a partnership with Airbus SE is paying dividends in the form of stepped-up sales of a small jetliner Bombardier developed — as evidenced by Jetblue Airways Corp.’s $5.4-billion order Tuesday.

The improving results highlight the company’s progress under CEO Alain Bellemare, who has been working to ease the strain from two aircraft-development programs that left Bombardier saddled with about $9 billion in debt. His turnaround effort still has miles to go, but his moves to shore up liquidity, cut jobs and ally with Airbus have increasingly won over investors.

“They’ve de-risked the company, and people are starting to realize that,” Cam Doerksen, a National Bank Financial analyst, said Wednesday. “There have been a number of positive events in the last few months, including a better environment for business jets. The prospects for positive free cash flow are becoming more apparent.”

Bombardier rose 1.5 per cent to $5.50 in Toronto on Wednesday, having earlier touched its highest intraday level since August 2011. The shares have advanced about 80 per cent so far this year — the third-biggest gain on the S&P/TSX Composite Index. They also boast the best return among 48 global aerospace firms with a market value of at least $500 million, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Doerksen has an outperform rating on Bombardier stock, which he says could hit $6 within 12 months.

Bombardier expects to break even on a cash flow basis, plus or minus $150 million, for all of 2018. The company reaffirmed the forecast when it released its first-quarter results on May 3 and announced the sale of its Downsview property in Toronto for $635 million.

Rising demand for business jets and trains, Bombardier’s two biggest lines of business, are two factors stoking investor enthusiasm.

Private plane orders rose in the first quarter from the previous three-month period, ending a slump of nearly two years. Inventories of used business aircraft are near their lowest in more than a decade.