Although we don't believe in timing the market or panicking over market movements, we do like to keep an eye on big changes -- just in case they're material to our investing thesis.
What: Shares of Gol Linhas Aereas Inteligentes (GOL -5.56%) flew 12% today as investors continued to cheer the Brazilian airline operator's plan to segregate its Smiles mileage points program.
So what: In addition to the segregation announcement, management said that it is considering holding an IPO of Smiles and possibly unlocking some shareholder value in the process. In fact, Smiles had approximately 8.9 million members at the end of the third quarter, suggesting that Gol could fetch an attractive price for the program.
Now what: Unfortunately for Gol bulls, management made no guarantees that it will actually go ahead with the IPO and didn't even provide an estimate of when it will make the decision. "The Company would like to emphasize that that no decision has been taken regarding this matter and that it may or may not conduct the IPO or an alternative operation in regard to Smiles," Gol cautioned in a statement. So while the possibility of a Smiles IPO is exciting, piling onto today's rally given the uncertainty that still remains doesn't seem prudent.
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