The Corporate Travel Management Ltd (ASX: CTD) share price was one of the best performers on the ASX 200 in November.
During the month the corporate travel specialist's shares raced a massive 17% higher.
Why did the Corporate Travel Management share price race higher?
Investors were buying the company's shares last month following the release of a trading update at its annual general meeting.
Although that update revealed that trading conditions have been challenging in FY 2020, the company has been able to defy this by successfully executing its strategy.
As a result, managing director Jamie Pherous reaffirmed its full year underlying EBITDA guidance.
He advised that the company expects to deliver underlying EBITDA of between $165 million and $175 million in FY 2020. This represents growth of approximately 10% to 16.5% on the prior year.
Mr Pherous said: "It is of no surprise that the macro environment is challenging and we indicated in August we expected this to be the case. In the face of this, our management continues to execute our strategy which pleasingly enables me to affirm guidance."
The managing director then advised that the second half would be the strong half. This is because he expects this half to be stronger than normal due to an improvement in macroeconomic factors in Europe and Asia.
In addition to this, the company is cycling a strong first half of FY 2019. Whereas the second half will see it cycle a very weak comparable period, particularly during March and June.
Should you invest?
If Corporate Travel Management delivers on the top end of its guidance, I estimate that its shares are trading at 20x forward earnings today. I think that would make them very good value given its growth profile.
However, it is worth noting that the company remains a short seller target. If the short seller returns with another scathing attack in the near future, it could weigh heavily on its shares.
For this reason, investors looking for exposure to the travel industry might want to consider safer options such as Helloworld Travel Ltd (ASX: HLO) and Webjet Limited (ASX: WEB) instead.
