What Happened?

Shares of aircraft leasing company FTAI Aviation (NASDAQ:FTAI) jumped 10.5% in the morning session after Stifel analysts upgraded the stock from Hold to Buy and set a price target of $123 which implied more than a 20% upside.

The analysts argued that the market reaction to the stock's first quarter earnings was likely overblown. They added that the underlying cash flows from their Strategic Capital Initiative (SCI - a program designed to expand FTAI's footprint in the aircraft leasing market without significantly burdening its balance sheet) are expected to increase and should boost the stock's value.

After the initial pop the shares cooled down and closed the day at $89.84, up 3.4% from previous close.

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What The Market Is Telling Us

FTAI Aviation’s shares are extremely volatile and have had 52 moves greater than 5% over the last year. But moves this big are rare even for FTAI Aviation and indicate this news significantly impacted the market’s perception of the business.

The previous big move we wrote about was 10 days ago when the stock gained 5.4% as investor sentiment improved on renewed optimism that the US-China trade conflict might be nearing a resolution. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent reinforced this positive outlook by describing the trade war as "unsustainable," and emphasized that a potential agreement between the two economic powers "was possible." His comments signaled to markets that both sides might be motivated to seek common ground, raising expectations for reduced tariffs and more stability across markets.

FTAI Aviation is down 36.3% since the beginning of the year, and at $91.94 per share, it is trading 47.5% below its 52-week high of $174.96 from November 2024. Investors who bought $1,000 worth of FTAI Aviation’s shares 5 years ago would now be looking at an investment worth $9,049.

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