The Flight Centre share price has declined in a difficult COVID-19 operating environment, but could there be room for upside?
Flight Centre shares are currently swapping hands at $18.82, down 0.48%. By comparison, the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) is up 0.12% at the time of writing.
Let's take a look at what analysts are predicting for the Flight Centre share price.
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Could the Flight Centre share price go higher?
Analysts at Goldman Sachs believe the Flight Centre share price could lift beyond its current level.
Goldman has a $19.50 price target on the travel company and a neutral rating. That's around 3.6% more than the current share price.
Commenting on the outlook for Flight Centre, the broker said:
We remain positive on the longer-term outlook for corporate recovery being ahead of pre-COVID levels driven by new contract wins, but more conservative on the leisure outlook.
The stock remains fairly valued vs. global travel peers.
In other travel shares, the Webjet Ltd (ASX: WEB) share price is down 0.88% at the time of writing while Qantas Airways Ltd (ASX: QAN) is 0.78% in the red. The Corporate Travel Management Ltd (ASX: CTD) share price is down 1.42% at the time of writing.
Since market close on 5 October, Flight Centre's shares have slid nearly 23%.
Flight Centre also continues to be one of the top shorted shares on the ASX, as my Foolish colleague James reported today. James noted it appears short sellers are not confident with the company's valuation or travel market recovery.
Flight Centre CEO Graham 'Skroo' Turner recently predicted the corporate travel recovery from COVID-19 could take a few years. He said:
Within a couple of years, business travel globally will get somewhere close to 80 per cent or 90 per cent. It won't get back to pre-COVID levels straight away in the next few years.
In other company news, Flight Centre recently revealed a new investment in a Dubai-based travel technology business. The investment is aimed at lowering costs, improving margin, and providing new revenue schemes.
Flight Centre share price summary
The Flight Centre share price has dropped nearly 3% in the last year but has jumped nearly 7% year to date.
For perspective, the benchmark ASX index has returned almost 9% over the past year.
In the past month, Flight Centre shares have dropped more than 8% although they've clawed back almost 2% in the past week.
The company has a market capitalisation of about $3.8 billion.
