MORGAN Stanley slashed its target price for Malayan Banking Bhd (1155) , the country's biggest bank, by more than 50 per cent, warning that more profit downgrades could be in the offing.
Its target price is now RM3.70 a share from RM8 before. Maybank faces multiple risks, among them aggressive lending into the Singapore property market that may result in unanticipated additional loan-loss charges.
Maybank, the largest foreign bank in Singapore, saw loans grow by 14.2 per cent on Singapore dollar basis, between September 2008 and September 2007.
"Maybank is a 'value-destroyer', we expect return on equity (ROE) to stay below our assumed cost of equity (13 per cent) over the next three forecast years ... In a nutshell, we see no reason to own the stock," analyst Roger Lum wrote in the report.
The research firm cut its earnings per share (EPS) forecast by between 33 and 42 per cent for the next three financial years. It also doesn't expect positive contributions from Maybank's recent acquisitions to exceed the increased financing costs before the end of 2011.
"It does not help that both the Indonesian rupiah and Pakistan rupee have been weakening against the Malaysian ringgit, thus reducing translated earnings," wrote Lum in the report.
As such, dividend expectations have also been trimmed, with the house now expecting Maybank to pay a dividend of 20 sen a share for the year ending June 2009.
In the financial year just ended, Maybank paid a 33 sen a share dividend, while in 2007 and 2006 it parted with 70 per cent and 82 per cent of its profits in dividend respectively.
In October, Cazenove Asia Ltd said that in the worst-case scenario Maybank could cut its short-term payout ratio by half to 30 per cent.
Morgan Stanley's steep cut comes barely two weeks after CLSA Asia valued Maybank at RM3.60 a share, the first to value the bank at below the RM4 mark this year.
The bank's share price, which have fallen by more than 40 per cent this year, currently trades above RM5.
Maybank this year embarked on its biggest overseas spending spree, paying US$2 billion (RM7.24 billion) for control of Indonesia's sixth-largest lender, and for stakes in banks in Pakistan and Vietnam.
It faced stinging criticism over the premiums paid for the acquisitions, which had triggered downgrades and selldowns on the stock.
http://www.btimes.com.my/Current_News/BTIM...icle/index_htmlCitibank cuts Genting’s target price to RM3.79 and fiscal 2008 earnings by 6.5 per cent
SHARES of Malaysian power to gaming firm Genting fell 1.35 per cent by 9.08 am today after the company reported a third quarter loss of RM40.38 million and warned that its UK gaming operations would be hit.
The company said that its power division would be hit by lower demand and lower prices.
Citibank today cuts Genting’s target price to RM3.79 from RM3.88 ringgit and cut fiscal 2008 earnings by 6.5 per cent.
The stock was trading at RM4.38, having been as low as RM4.24. The main index was down 0.79 per cent. - Reuters
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