The easyJet (LSE: EZJ) share price has all of the aeronautical talents of a falling knife. It’s been one of many quickest falling shares on the FTSE 100 for years, and most buyers who chanced their arm in that point could have regretted it.

Over 5 years, easyJet shares are down 47%. They’re down simply 3.09% over 12 months however are diving once more, falling 7.46% within the final week alone.

It’s not the one airline with sharp edges as British Airways proprietor Worldwide Consolidated Airways Group and even sector supremo Ryanair have been falling in latest months.

Low-flying FTSE 100 inventory

The airline sector is on the entrance line of each international disaster. Each financial slowdown hits enterprise and leisure journey. As do inflation and rates of interest.

Geopolitical tensions can shut profitable routes in a single day. As can strikes, labour disputes and technical issues and pandemics.

Margins are tight resulting from intense competitors and rising environmental calls for. Airways even have excessive fastened prices and should reinvest continuously to maintain their fleets match to fly. I haven’t even talked about gas prices.

Many of those elements are cyclical, so if I had to purchase an airline inventory, I’d slightly purchase one when it’s flying low on buyers’ radars than excessive. Therefore my curiosity in easyJet in the present day.

The price range service’s shares are in deep worth territory buying and selling at simply 9.4 instances trailings earnings. That’s comfortably beneath the FTSE 100 common of 12.7 instances.

There’s another excuse they’ve caught my consideration. EasyJet’s earnings climbed 16% to £236m in Q3. Passenger numbers rose 8%.

The group’s easyJet Holidays division is doing properly, with earnings up 49% to £73m. This autumn bookings look promising, too, whereas capability is rising. CEO Johan Lundgren is trying ahead “to deliver another record-breaking summer”.

This follows a promising 2023, when the group turned a £178m full-year loss in 2022 into £455m revenue, as Covid receded.

Dangerous however with rewards

The steadiness sheet seems to be extra sturdy. EasyJet ended 2023 with £41m of web money. This climbed to £456m by 30 June.

Higher nonetheless, it’s reinstating its dividend after three years and expects to pay 4.5p per share in early 2024. The forecast yield is now 2.9% however there’s room to develop, as dividends are handsomely coated 5.1 instances by earnings. In 2020, straight earlier than the pandemic, easyJet shares yielded 5.49%.

Given these positives, why is the share price down within the dumps? One fear is that whole income per seat solely rose 1% in Q3 as prices rose. As rival Ryanair warned on 22 July, summer time fares are falling whereas elevated air-traffic and dealing with charges push up prices. EasyJet will face the identical pressures, with a weaker observe report of flying by way of them.

The latest CrowdStrike outage additionally hammered airways throughout the board, in yet one more reminder of how susceptible they’re to exterior shocks.

I’m sorely tempted to purchase easyJet at in the present day’s low price, with a long-term view. It’s again on my watchlist. However given the dangers, it’s not fairly on my Purchase listing but.