What Happened?
Shares of aircraft leasing company FTAI Aviation (NASDAQ:FTAI) jumped 19.5% in the morning session after the company's audit committee, with support from independent legal and forensic accounting advisors, concluded its review of the January 2025 short report by Muddy Waters and found the allegations "without merit.". The company expects to file its Form 10-K (annual report) on schedule, easing concerns that the report might be delayed.
Paul R. Goodwin, Chair of the Audit Committee, commented, "After a thorough and comprehensive review with the support of our independent legal and forensic accounting advisors, we have determined that the assertions made in the short seller reports are unsupported and have no merit. The Audit Committee and full Board continue to take seriously our responsibility to FTAI shareholders to maintain high standards of corporate governance and internal compliance and financial reporting controls, as well as transparent and timely disclosure.".
Is now the time to buy FTAI Aviation? Access our full analysis report here, it’s free.
What The Market Is Telling Us
FTAI Aviation’s shares are extremely volatile and have had 37 moves greater than 5% over the last year. But moves this big are rare even for FTAI Aviation and indicate this news significantly impacted the market’s perception of the business.
The previous big move we wrote about was 15 days ago when the stock gained 5.2% on the news that Benchmark analysts reaffirmed their Buy rating and set a $300 price target, suggesting shares could more than double from current levels following a meeting with CEO Joe Adams, who addressed concerns raised in a January 2025 short report by Muddy Waters. After the meeting, the analysts disagreed with the short report's allegations regarding improper accounting and the valuation of FTAI's Engine Module Swaps, calling them "misinformed."
Additionally, the analysts emphasized the potential of FTAI's Engine Module Swaps on the traditional engine maintenance model. This, along with the Strategic Capital Initiative (SCI), is expected to generate $200M+ in annual EBITDA for at least five years. The analysts observed that these weren't addressed in the short report. Finally, the analysts cited a number of catalysts that could benefit FTAI in the short term, including 1. A narrow-scope internal audit. 2. The company's fourth-quarter 2024 results and outlook 3. Progress on SCI 4. A potential Parts Manufacturer Approval (PMA) announcement, and 5. The filing of the 10-K report.
FTAI Aviation is up 0% since the beginning of the year, but at $144.45 per share, it is still trading 17.4% below its 52-week high of $174.96 from November 2024. Investors who bought $1,000 worth of FTAI Aviation’s shares 5 years ago would now be looking at an investment worth $6,849.
Here at StockStory, we certainly understand the potential of thematic investing. Diverse winners from Microsoft (MSFT) to Alphabet (GOOG), Coca-Cola (KO) to Monster Beverage (MNST) could all have been identified as promising growth stories with a megatrend driving the growth. So, in that spirit, we’ve identified a relatively under-the-radar profitable growth stock benefiting from the rise of AI, available to you FREE via this link.
