Copa shares in freefall

COPA HOLDINGS shares are in free fall with  the Panamanian airline suffering the effects of the economic weakness of Brazil, Venezuela and Colombia.

For the second quarter of 2015, Copa Holdings reported a profit of $ 64.1 million, an annual fall of 45.8%.

The company’s shares seem to  have  hit the  bottom in the new York market in New York where they have   listed since 2005. In the last seven they fallen 14%, exchanging to $40.52 dollars.

Since reaching a record high of $160 at the beginning of 2014, Copa Holdings stock  has been particularly affected by lower passenger  demand, especially in the South.

Since then the share price has fallen 75%, and the outlook for the coming months are not encouraging.

The financial analysis firm Zacks changed is recommendations to “strong sell” and advised its clients to stay away from the stock, reports La Prensa.

In addition to the economic weakness of Brazil, Venezuela and Colombia, which affects the airlines in the region comes  the gloomy projection of the International Air Transport Association (IATA, which warned that of  the $29 billion projected gain of airlines in the world, only $600 million relates  to Latin American companies.

For Zacks the gray  outlook of the airlines of the region will extend beyond the first half of next year.

Copa’s  consolidated first half year balance shows that revenues fell 15.6%.

Between January and August, Copa Airlines and Copa Colombia transported 10.8 million passengers, 1.9% more than the first eight months of last year.

This is the lowest growth in the number of transported passengers reported by the company in the last five years.

Copa Airlines connects from Tocumen to 73 destinations in 31 countries and plans to finish this year with a fleet of 100 aircraft.