Saxo Bank's Head of Equity Strategy Peter Garnry has seen one of his top three picks in Europe take off. Airbus shares rose as the firm released Q1 2014 results. Peter says "Airbus is up 5 percent this morning as both operating income and revenue for the first quarter of 2014 came in better than expected. Despite challenges ahead, management confirmed its initial earnings guidance from earlier this year. Airbus was one of our top three picks in Europe this year on the outlook for commercial aviation. Airbus shares are down 7.4 percent year-to-date. We remain bullish on Airbus both short-term and long-term."
Q1 revenue at EUR 12.6 billion vs. EUR 12.3 billion expected
Q1 ex-items EBIT at 700 million vs. EUR 659 million estimated
2014 outlook is confirmed and CFO is confident of overall order momentum
Airbus trades at 15.4 times 12-month forward EPS and 2.2 percent expected dividend yield
Our quant model is positive on Airbus and had a 14 percent 12-month return forecast before the earnings announcement.