12 Best Aviation Stocks to Buy According to Hedge Funds

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

Number of Hedge Fund Investors: 17 

Copa Holdings S.A. (NYSE:CPA) provides aircraft passenger and freight services through its subsidiaries. The company’s primary business is air transportation. It provides international air transportation for passengers, cargo, and mail from its Panama City hub in the Republic of Panama, as well as domestic and international air transportation for passengers, cargo, and mail via a point-to-point route network with Copa Colombia, a Colombian carrier. North America, South America, Central America, and the Caribbean are the company’s geographic divisions. North America accounts for the majority of the company’s revenue.

The passenger traffic, as measured by revenue passenger miles, increased by 7.6% YoY in Q3 of 2024 during the quarter, while consolidated capacity, as measured by available seat miles, grew by 9.5% YoY.

Copa Holdings S.A. (NYSE:CPA) ended the quarter with 110 aircraft, including a freighter and many Boeing 737 variants, including one Boeing 737 MAX 8. The airline company had a remarkable on-time record of 87.3% and a flight completion factor of 99.6%, placing it among the best airline stocks.

A number of considerations that highlight Copa Holdings S.A.’s (NYSE:CPA) excellent performance trajectory have led Jens Spiess to issue his Buy rating. The company reported a 6.8% year-over-year and a 6.6% quarter-to-date increase in overall traffic for November 2024. However, these numbers fall just short of Morgan Stanley’s and the market’s projections. Nevertheless, the business continues to have a strong position, as evidenced by its 8.1% year-to-date traffic growth and 8.8% capacity increase, both of which align with the company’s annual expectations. The overall capacity and planned increase indicate a stable forecast for the entire quarter, notwithstanding a minor year-over-year decline in the load factor for both November and the year thus far.

Jim Simons’s Renaissance Technologies was the largest stakeholder in the company from among the funds in Insider Monkey’s database at the end of Q3 2024. It owns 870,385 shares worth $81.68 million as of Q3.