Ryanair Lags Peers Before Today's Results

Ryanair enters its November results as the quietest stock in its peer group on short-side positioning, yet the one drifting furthest behind on price.

Among the closest European airline peers, short demand is low across the board, but Ryanair sits at the relaxed end. Borrow availability stands at 7,713%, meaning roughly 77 shares are available to lend for every one currently borrowed. Even at its tightest over the past year, availability never fell below 615%. Cost to borrow has picked up 46% over the past week to 0.71%, but remains firmly in low-cost territory. Short interest as a percentage of the free float is effectively negligible, and the ORTEX short score of 26, placing Ryanair in the 90th percentile of stocks with low short pressure, reinforces that bears have little conviction here.

The price story is where Ryanair diverges from its peers. The stock rose 1.6% over the past week, compared with a peer median of 3.4%. IAG added 2.0%, WIZZ 2.5%, Lufthansa 2.8%, and Air France-KLM 4.3%. US carriers ran harder still, with United Airlines up 6.4% and Delta Air Lines gaining 4.4%. Ryanair's relative softness follows a 2.3% loss over the past month, and the stock is at EUR 22.90, some way below its May levels above EUR 24. That lag sits alongside a PE of roughly 13.9 times and an EV/EBITDA of 6.3 times, multiples that have been broadly stable over the past 30 days.

Two alt-data readings add texture to the demand picture. UK Civil Aviation Authority data shows the airline passenger load factor has risen for four consecutive months, reaching 92.7% in August 2026. French aviation regulator data tells a softer story for the winter shoulder: December 2025 passenger volumes in France came in 12% below the prior December, the weakest December in three years. Neither dataset has been measured to lead Ryanair's own reported figures, so neither reading translates directly to a forecast for today's print.

The past two earnings reports produced negative reactions, with the July 2026 results dragging the stock down 3.5% on the day and 5.4% over the following five sessions. Today's print tests whether Ryanair's summer load factor strength has offset the pricing and cost pressures that have kept the shares adrift of their peer group throughout the autumn.