The tourism sector has become the main driver of the IBEX 35 so far this year after bank prices were rocked by the problems posed by international banking. If the Spanish selection has increased by more than 10% in the first three months of 2023, the shares of Melia Hotels, Aena (26.7%), Amadeus (24.7%) or IAG (Iberia) (23.7 %), all with revaluations greater than 20%.
At the top is Melia Hotels with a cumulative revaluation in the first three months of the year of 28%, which has increased its market capitalization to almost 1,300 million euros. While it hasn’t been immune to the turmoil of the past few weeks, down 6.4% over the past 20 sessions, it’s been counting every day for progress over the past week.
And analysts seem to think there’s still some room to further capitalize on this good run. According to data compiled by Reuters, analysts covering Melia Hotels give on average a “Hold” recommendation with a price target of EUR 6.4 which is 8.7% above the current price.
The company seems to have overcome the problems caused by Covid-19, which has wreaked havoc throughout the tourism sector since March 2020. Thus, in 2022, Meliá left the red of 2021 when it lost 192.9 million euros, achieving a positive net result of 120 million.
At the billing level, the company entered 1,692 million in the 12-month period, up +87.5% year-on-year, improving quarter-on-quarter and only -6.1% below the full-year 2019 figure. Meliá’s EBITDA reached 430.8 million, up 243.2% from 2021.
Gabriel Escarrer, Vice President and CEO of Meliá Hotels International, recently spoke live for Investment Strategies about the company’s business, development and financial accounts. The good prospects that Meliá Hotels manages lead him to believe that the Easter high season will be more than satisfactory for the tourism sector.
“For this year we have 22% of sales in resort hotels when we compare it to the same date of 2019. So unless things go awry unexpectedly and we know we are living in a moment of financial and geopolitical tension, we believe that We will have a good Easter, especially at the income level and that’s where we see a lot of room for improvement in what the cast is,” Escarrer explained.