Even after slipping on Friday, Rolls-Royce was on course for a five-day gain of about 7%, which would be its best week since February. The London-based engineer on Thursday raised its profit guidance and said it would reinstate dividend payments for the first time since the pandemic.

Its shares are up by nearly 60% this year, extending a jump since the start of 2023 to more than 400%. No other stock on the Stoxx Europe 600 Index has matched the surge.

Chloe Lemarie and Ben Brown at Jefferies see the rally as having further to run. They upped their price target to £6.40 a share on Friday, the highest among 20 views tracked by Bloomberg — a level representing a 33% increase from Thursday’s close.

“Despite rising expectations into first-half results, Rolls-Royce passed the test with flying colors,” they wrote in a note to clients. They also expect it to return £3 billion (US$3.8 billion) of cash to shareholders via buybacks, through fiscal 2027.

The company has been boosted by a post-pandemic surge in long-haul travel, with the latest uptick in demand coming from Asia. On Thursday, Rolls-Royce said large-engine flying hours had finally surpassed pre-pandemic levels.

Still, not all are positive on the stock, with Berenberg one of three firms rating it sell. They highlighted recent profit warnings from short-haul carriers in a note after the results on Thursday, predicting that similar updates in the long-haul market could weigh on Rolls-Royce’s cash outlook.

“Hedge fund bulls were recently telling us they would tactically take profits once the inevitable dividend was introduced,” added Philip Buller and colleagues.