Brokers' take

Compiled by Claire Huang, The Business Times

CAPITALAND LIMITED | BUY

TARGET PRICE: $4.13

NOV 8 CLOSE: $3.64

OCBC Investment Research, Nov 8

Q3-17 profit after tax and minority interest (Patmi) increased 28.1 per cent year-on-year to $317 million from $247.5m.

Accounting for one-time items, however, operating Patmi for the quarter fell 18.8 per cent to $204.5m.

Overall, we judge this quarter's results to be broadly within expectations. Due to fewer units being available for sale, CapitaLand's Chinese home sales figures in year-to-date September 2017 fell to 7,233 units (worth $12.7 billion) from 9,176 units (worth $14.8b) over the same period last year.

In Singapore, the group sold 293 units worth $1.15b in year-to-date September 2017 versus 510 units worth $1.24b over the same period last year.

SINGAPORE AIRLINES | HOLD

TARGET PRICE: $10.10

NOV 8 CLOSE: $10.75

UOB Kay Hian, Nov 8

While we had expected SIA to report a strong quarter, the carrier still managed to beat expectations on strong cost control and surprisingly strong cargo yields.

Although parent airline's yield did not improve sequentially, SIA indicated that yields were stabilising.

We retain our 'hold' rating on the stock, pending further clarification on yields and sustainability of cargo profits.

We also believe stock price is likely to be capped at book value for the next three months.

HI-P INTERNATIONAL | BUY

TARGET PRICE: $2.30

NOV 8 CLOSE: $1.90

DBS Group Research, Nov 8

Stronger-than-expected production ramp-up and demand would help to boost sales, while better operational efficiency would help to improve margins.

We apply a 10 per cent premium to peers' price-to-earnings ratio of 14 times on FY18 forecast earnings, on the back of the strong earnings momentum, to arrive at our revised target price of $2.30, up from $1.67.

DBS GROUP HOLDINGS | BUY

TARGET PRICE: $26.83

NOV 8 CLOSE: $23.76

Phillip Securities, Nov 8

Owing to the aggressive recognition of non-performing asset and net allowance expenses, we revise our FY17 estimated net income growth to 3.1 per cent.

Our previous FY17 estimated net income growth estimate was 20.5 per cent. Specific provisions could remain elevated in Q4-17 following the move to clean up oil and gas exposure.

Nonetheless, this would pave the way for FY18's total credit cost to be lower than the through cycle level of 27 basis points. Underlying loan growth for this year and the next is 7-8 per cent, higher than the percentage guided at the beginning of this year. In all, we see the move to spring clean the oil and gas exposure as a preparation for a much stronger performance in FY18.

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