Citi upgrades Easyjet and IAG to 'buy', double-downgrades Lufthansa

(Sharecast News) - Faced with a "favourable" demand outlook but multiple headwinds including re-emerging capacity risks, "underestimated" fuel headwinds, a kaleidoscope of pricing trends and industry-wide cost creep, analysts at Citi expressed a preference for the "less operationally-geared" names in the space."The conclusion from our seven aforementioned themes is that we argue for a mixed and, in a few areas, challenged outlook for the sector, thus logically leaving us to seek shelter on the long-side of the less operationally geared names (i.e. short-haul western European carriers: Ryanair, Easyjet, IAG)," they said.The analysts left their 1800.0p target price for EasyJet but upgraded their recommendation on the shares from 'hold' to 'buy', anticipating "strong" pricing and more cost synergies than had been expected from the Air Berlin deal.They also upgraded IAG to 'buy' and hiked their target from 760.0p to 907.0p, while for Wizz Air they lifted their target from 3700.0p to 4500.0p but their stance remained 'hold'.The main allure of IAG, they said, was "robust" North Atlantic pricing - especially in the UK.Ryanair Holdings on the other remained at 'buy' and its target price was unchanged a €16.80.Citi expected the Irish carrier's shares to benefit from better-than-expected 2020 pricing momentum, renewed market share gains and a focus on cost management.Shares of Lufthansa on the other hand were downgraded from 'buy' to 'sell' and their target price slashed from €32.50 to €19.90, with Citi citing "fading" Asia-to Europe price trends and "overly enthusiastic" expectations on Germany's perceived consolidation which combined it expected would drag the shares roughly 15% lower.