The Qantas Airways Limited (ASX: QAN) share price hit a spot of turbulence on Tuesday.
The airline operator's shares dropped 3% to end the day at $6.54.
This followed the announcement that Qantas' long-serving CEO, Alan Joyce, would be retiring from the role later this year. Joyce will be replaced by the company's current chief financial officer, Vanessa Hudson.
When Joyce finally departs in November, he will have been at the helm for approximately 15 years. Investors appear concerned what this change could mean for the company and ultimately their investment.
Well, the good news is that one leading broker appears to believe it will be business as usual for Qantas. As a result, it has retained its buy rating on Qantas' shares.
What is being said about the Qantas share price?
According to a note out of Goldman Sachs, its analysts have retained their buy rating and $8.30 price target on its shares.
Based on the current Qantas share price, this implies potential upside of 27% for investors over the next 12 months. Goldman commented:
QAN has announced that Vanessa Hudson will succeed Alan Joyce as CEO of QAN from November 2023. Ms. Hudson is QAN's current CFO and has held a number of roles (commercial, customer and finance) at the company since 1994. QAN highlighted that Ms. Hudson has been directly involved in shaping/executing the current strategy, including the fleet selection process for the renewal of the domestic aircraft fleet.
We are Buy-rated on QAN, and the shares are on our Conviction List. Our 12-month target price of A$8.30 is based on a 50%/50% weighted blend of our DCF and EV/EBITDA (QAN's pre-COVID multiple and is discounted at QAN group WACC for a 12m fwd valuation) valuations. […] Our estimated FY24e EPS sits 65% above pre-COVID levels. Despite this, QAN's market capitalisation is only 10% above pre-COVID levels (EV 8% lower).
