Analysts are ditching AirAsia in droves after record loss

AirAsia Group has fallen even further out of favour after posting a record loss on Tuesday. At least eight analysts tracked by Bloomberg have revised down their recommendations or price targets on AirAsia’s shares since it announced a net loss of 992.9m ringgit ($238m) for the quarter through June. One of them, CGS-CIMB’s Raymond Yap, slashed his target by 74% to just 0.15 ringgit. From a total of 20 analysts, 18 have sell or equivalent ratings on AirAsia and the average price target is 0.56 ringgit. The airline fell 2.8% to 0.685 ringgit Wednesday, taking its loss for this year to 60%. Its long-haul unit AirAsia X has fared similarly poorly. While not enough to sway most analysts, Malaysia-based AirAsia’s earnings statement pointed to some encouraging trends in bookings, flight frequencies and load factors as travel restrictions are lifted in the countries where it operates. The carrier is in fundraising talks with financial institutions to help it through the coronavirus crisis, which ChEO Tony Fernandes has described as “by far” the toughest challenge the company has faced. Citi Research noted Wednesday that AirAsia is looking to raise 2.5b to 3b ringgit through a combination of equity and debt around the end of 2020. It also won’t take any new aircraft over the next two years, said Citi, which has a sell rating on AirAsia and a 0.58 ringgit price target.<br/>