The Flight Centre Travel Group Ltd (ASX: FLT) share price gained 6.4% in April.
Shares in the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) travel stock closed on 31 March trading for $18.48. At the closing bell on 28 April shares were swapping hands for $19.67 apiece.
That 6.4% boost in the Flight Centre share price is more than three and a half times the 1.8% gain posted by the ASX 200 in April.
So, what went right for the ASX 200 travel share last month?
Why did the ASX 200 travel share outperform in April?
The strong outperformance of the Flight Centre share price in April will come as good news for shareholders. But certainly not so good for the sizeable number of short sellers who've been betting against the travel stock.
In the first week of April, Flight Centre was the most shorted stock on the ASX, with a whopping short interest of 11.7%. That short interest rose to 11.9% the next week.
Which is right about when the Flight Centre share price began to lift off. Shares gained 6.6% from the closing bell on 12 April through to the end of the month.
With no price-sensitive news released by the company in April, we can only speculate on what spurred investors to hit the buy button.
Some positives for Flight Centre are the potential for further increases in international travellers. International travel numbers are ramping up but remain below pre-pandemic levels.
However, Flight Centre expects international capacity will reach 85% of those levels in June.
The company could also be finding support from its strong balance sheet, with a $465 million net cash position as at 31 December.
And many ASX 200 investors may be eyeing the bigger picture.
Despite some sizeable gains in 2023, Flight Centre shares remain down 48% from early January 2020. That was less than two months before COVID knocked the stuffing out of most shares, with travel stocks especially hard hit.
Flight Centre share price snapshot
The Flight Centre share price has gained an impressive 45% since the opening bell on 3 January. Though that's not quite enough to make up for the heavy losses in the latter half of 2022.
Over the past 12 months, the ASX 200 travel share remains down 1.5%.
