The Qantas Airways Limited (ASX: QAN) share price has been flying very high indeed in recent months. For one, Qantas shares closed up a healthy 2.03% yesterday at $6.52 a share. That puts the national carrier and ASX 200 travel share up a solid 3.5% over the past month alone.
But it gets even better for shareholders. Year to date in 2023 so far, the Qantas share price has shot up almost 10%, rising 9.76% from just under $6 to the price we see at present. And over the past 12 months, Qantas has climbed a veritable cliff, rocketing a whopping 44.25%. Yep, Qantas shares were asking just $4.52 a year ago. All of these rises you can see illustrated below:
But a rise of over 45% in 12 months might induce some caution for the more wary investors out there. After all, that is not a conventional kind of pricing movement, especially for a publically-listed airline.
So do Qantas shares have further to soar? Or is the share price set to level off, or even nosedive?
Is the Qantas share price a buy after rising 44% in 12 months?
Well, one ASX broker who reckons there is plenty of altitude left for Qantas shares is Morgans. As my Fool colleague covered earlier this week, Morgans has recently given the Qantas share price an add rating, with a 12-month share price target of $8.50. If realised, that would see Qantas shares gain another 30% from here (not to mention hitting an all-time high).
This ASX expert reckons Qantas shares still look cheap, given a favourable outlook and the airline's cost-cutting efforts. It noted that analysts "continue to view the discount being applied to QAN vs pre-COVID multiples as unwarranted".
But not all ASX experts are so optimistic. John Athanasiou of Red Leaf Securities recently gave his opinion on the national carrier to The Bull. He rated Qantas shares as a hold and stated the following on why:
The airline is experiencing strong travel demand and flying activity has increased. The company is forecasting underlying profit before tax of between $2.425 billion and $2.475 billion for fiscal year 2023. The company is a strong performer. However, future travel demand is possibly factored into the share price at this point.
So both experts seem to think that the fundamentals for Qantas are exceptionally strong right now (we've all seen how expensive airfares are at present). But Athanasiou clearly has valuation concerns that Morgans doesn't share.
Regardless of the future for Qantas shares, investors have certainly had a fruitful 12 months.
At the last Qantas share price, this ASX 200 travel stock had a market capitalisation of $11.85 billion, but still with no dividend yield.
