KUALA LUMPUR (Jan 25): PUBLIC BANK BHD [] shares advanced on Wednesday after Maybank Investment Bank Bhd Research maintained its Buy call and raised its target price for the stock to RM14.60 from RM13.50 previously.
At 9.31am, Public Bank added eight sen to RM13.38 with 126,300.
The research house said Public Bank would kick off the reporting season for the banks with the release of its 4Q11 results by month end.
“Our full-year net profit estimate stands at RM3.37 billion, just slightly behind (- 1.8%) consensus’ RM3.43 billion.
“This implies a 4Q net profit of RM761 million, down 10% year-on-year, -15% quarter-on-quarter, premised largely on NIM compression and lower q-o-q non-interest income,” it said.
The research house however said the bank had thus far succeeded in surprising on the upside despite repeatedly cautioning of a 10-15 basis points compression in NIM in 2011.
“We would not be too surprised if management pulls it off again, which could result in earnings surprising on the upside
“We maintain our Buy call for exposure to Public Bank’s impeccable fundamentals while a net yield of 4% provides support to share price,” it said.
At 9.31am, Public Bank added eight sen to RM13.38 with 126,300.
The research house said Public Bank would kick off the reporting season for the banks with the release of its 4Q11 results by month end.
“Our full-year net profit estimate stands at RM3.37 billion, just slightly behind (- 1.8%) consensus’ RM3.43 billion.
“This implies a 4Q net profit of RM761 million, down 10% year-on-year, -15% quarter-on-quarter, premised largely on NIM compression and lower q-o-q non-interest income,” it said.
The research house however said the bank had thus far succeeded in surprising on the upside despite repeatedly cautioning of a 10-15 basis points compression in NIM in 2011.
“We would not be too surprised if management pulls it off again, which could result in earnings surprising on the upside
“We maintain our Buy call for exposure to Public Bank’s impeccable fundamentals while a net yield of 4% provides support to share price,” it said.
