It will likely come as no surprise to reveal that hockey is a big deal in Canada. That’s confirmed thanks to Air Canada (TSE:AC), who added a slate of new sports-related options to its in-flight entertainment package. The move was news enough to send shares up fractionally in Monday morning’s trading.
Now, those who fly Air Canada will have three new options for live sports in flight. The first two, Sportsnet ONE and Sportsnet East, will be available immediately. The third, TVA Sports, won’t actually come on line for a couple of weeks, being made available “in May.” This means that those flights that offer the sports package will be able to view the National Hockey League (NHL) playoffs, which is likely big news for many Canadians.
While certainly, hockey and Canadians go together like maple syrup and Canadians, this is a particularly worthwhile addition right now. There are four Canadian teams in the hunt for the Stanley Cup, including the Vancouver Canucks—who won their game last Friday—and the Edmonton Oilers, as well as the Winnipeg Jets and the Toronto Maple Leafs. With 16 qualifying teams total, and four of them Canadian, one of them has an excellent chance of bringing the Stanley Cup to Canada, a feat not rivaled in 31 years. And by making that action available on its flights, Air Canada has likely won itself a major public relations coup, one that should endear itself to Canadians of all stripes, and improve its stock position.
Turning to Wall Street, analysts have a Strong Buy consensus rating on TSE:AC stock based on eight Buys and one Hold assigned in the past three months, as indicated by the graphic below. After a 4.45% rally in its share price over the past year, the average TSE:AC price target of $913.74 per share implies 60.39% upside potential.
