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HK Equities · Finance research note

HKEX 0293 - Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd.

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2. Company Fundamentals

2.3 Management

Role Metric
Consensus Rating N/A

2.4 Return

Metric Value
Expected Return (Ann.)* 56.59%
Risk / Std Dev (Ann.)* 28.15%
1-Year Price Return* 48.61%

Latest Market Data (as of 2026-08-14, Hong Kong time):

Metric Value
Last Price HK$14.75
52-Week Range HK$10.34 – HK$15.22
Observation Count 245 trading days

The return and risk statistics use daily adjusted closes from the retrieved one-year price series and annualise daily moments using 252 trading days. The last price is the latest regular-market price reported for the stated date. Source: Yahoo Finance market data.

DuPont Model Analysis

The DuPont model decomposes return on equity (ROE) into three operating and capital-structure drivers:

ROE = Net Margin × Asset Turnover × Equity Multiplier

The comparison uses the latest two comparable annual periods available for the issuer, with reported statement amounts shown in HK$. Revenue and net income are income-statement flows; total assets and shareholders’ equity are year-end balance-sheet figures. This is a simplified year-end-balance DuPont comparison rather than an average-balance ROE calculation.

DuPont component Calculation FY2025 FY2024
Revenue Reported revenue HK$116.77B HK$104.37B
Net income Reported net income HK$10.83B HK$9.61B
Total assets Year-end reported balance HK$177.05B HK$171.24B
Shareholders’ equity Year-end reported balance HK$60.11B HK$52.50B
Net margin Net income ÷ revenue 9.27% 9.20%
Asset turnover Revenue ÷ total assets 0.6595x 0.6095x
Equity multiplier Total assets ÷ shareholders’ equity 2.9455x 3.2618x
ROE Net margin × asset turnover × equity multiplier 18.01% 18.30%

Source: Yahoo Finance annual statements. Values are based on the two latest comparable annual periods returned by the source; fiscal period labels use the statement period-end year.

2.5 FCFF DCF Valuation

Valuation basis: This research model follows a five-year, unlevered FCFF DCF. It starts from reported annual operating inputs, forecasts revenue and operating cash conversion under an explicit mechanical policy, discounts FCFF at WACC, applies a Gordon-growth terminal value, and bridges enterprise value to an indicative common-equity value per share. It is an analytical estimate rather than a recommendation or personalised target price.

Step 1 — Forecast Operating Profit and NOPAT

Reported operating input Value
Revenue HK$116.77B
Prior annual revenue HK$104.37B
EBIT HK$15.48B
Tax rate 12.04%
NOPAT = EBIT × (1 − tax rate) HK$13.62B
Forecast start-growth basis 11.88%
Forecast policy latest reported annual revenue growth, bounded to -10.00% / 15.00%

Step 2 — Calculate FCFF

Current FCFF building block Value
NOPAT HK$13.62B
Add: depreciation & amortisation HK$11.57B
Less: capital expenditure -HK$9.83B
Less/(add): working-capital cash-flow movement HK$3.87B
Current unlevered FCFF HK$19.23B

Explicit FCFF forecast

Forecast year Revenue growth NOPAT D&A Capex Change in NWC FCFF Present value
1 11.88% HK$15.23B HK$12.94B -HK$11.00B HK$4.33B HK$21.51B HK$20.89B
2 9.53% HK$16.68B HK$14.18B -HK$12.58B HK$4.74B HK$23.03B HK$21.10B
3 7.19% HK$17.88B HK$15.20B -HK$14.05B HK$5.08B HK$24.11B HK$20.84B
4 4.84% HK$18.75B HK$15.93B -HK$15.33B HK$5.33B HK$24.68B HK$20.12B
5 2.50% HK$19.22B HK$16.33B -HK$16.33B HK$5.46B HK$24.68B HK$18.98B

Step 3 — Determine the Discount Rate (WACC)

WACC input Value
Risk-free rate 4.71%
Equity risk premium assumption 5.50%
Beta 0.43
Cost of equity 7.10%
Pre-tax cost of debt 4.97%
WACC 6.01%
WACC validation requires assumption review

Step 4 — Estimate Terminal Value

Terminal-value input Value
Perpetuity growth rate 2.50%
Terminal value HK$720.79B
Implied terminal EV / EBITDA 18.88x
Terminal value as % of enterprise value 84.08%

Step 5 — Discount Cash Flows to Enterprise Value

Enterprise-value component Value
Present value of explicit FCFF HK$101.92B
Present value of terminal value HK$538.37B
Indicated enterprise value HK$640.29B
Discounting convention mid-year for explicit FCFF; terminal value discounted at year-end five

Step 6 — Convert Enterprise Value to Equity Value

Equity bridge Value
Indicated enterprise value HK$640.29B
Less: gross interest-bearing debt HK$59.10B
Add: cash and equivalents HK$12.29B
Add: affiliate investments HK$0.00
Less: minority interests HK$7.00M
Indicated common equity value HK$593.47B

Step 7 — Calculate Indicative Value Per Share

Per-share output Value
Shares used 6,724,288,287.00
Share-count basis reported diluted weighted-average shares
Current market price HK$14.68
DCF indicative value per share HK$88.26
Indicative value vs. market price 501.21%

Model Integrity Checks

Check Result
Perpetuity growth is below the risk-free rate pass
Perpetuity growth is below WACC pass
WACC is within the configured operating-company range review required
Terminal-year FCFF is positive pass
Terminal capex converges to D&A pass
Terminal-value concentration within review band
Implied price differs from spot by more than 30% review required

2.6 Investor-Style Research Screen

Educational screen Result
Buffett-inspired cash-quality checks 4/4 evidenced checks
Lynch-inspired balance-and-growth checks 4/4 evidenced checks

Data lineage: Yahoo Finance public market and reported-statement data; retrieval timestamp: 2026-08-18 16:18:42.965469 UTC; latest reported fiscal period: 2025-12-31 00:00:00. Default assumptions: five-year forecast, mid-year discounting for explicit FCFF, a maximum 2.50% perpetuity-growth rate below both WACC and the risk-free rate, historical operating-ratio persistence, and capex convergence to D&A by year five. No sell-side consensus or management guidance is substituted for reported inputs. This is research and analysis only, not personalized financial advice.

2.7 Quantitative Factor Diagnostics

Model basis: Daily issuer USD excess returns are regressed in-sample using ordinary least squares on matching regional Fama–French factors. FF3 estimates market, size, and value loadings; FF5 adds profitability and investment. Coefficients are descriptive historical exposures, not predictions.

Estimation input Value
Regional factor set Asia Pacific ex Japan
Factor-return currency USD
Issuer-return basis USD adjusted total return
Estimation window 2025-08-20 to 2026-06-30
Aligned daily observations 210
Minimum observation requirement 120
Currency conversion for HK listings HKD adjusted close divided by daily USD/HKD close before simple daily return calculation

Fama–French Three-Factor and Five-Factor Results

Diagnostic FF3 FF5
Annualised alpha 25.05% 23.43%
Adjusted R² 0.30 0.31
Annualised residual volatility 23.68% 23.43%
Factor loading (t-statistic) FF3 FF5
Market excess return (Mkt-RF) 1.26 (9.34) 1.36 (9.40)
Size (SMB) 0.16 (0.82) 0.39 (1.58)
Value (HML) 0.39 (2.11) 0.24 (1.14)
Profitability (RMW) NM -0.25 (-0.95)
Investment (CMA) NM 0.55 (1.84)

Definitions: Mkt-RF is the market return less the risk-free rate; SMB is small minus big; HML is high minus low book-to-market; RMW is robust minus weak profitability; CMA is conservative minus aggressive investment. Factor returns are sourced from the Kenneth R. French Data Library; issuer adjusted-return history is sourced from Yahoo Finance. For Hong Kong listings, adjusted HKD prices are converted into USD with daily USD/HKD closes before return calculation to match the USD regional factor basis. This is an in-sample historical regression; coefficients and t-statistics do not establish causation or predict future returns. This is research and analysis only, not personalized financial advice.

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