Hot Stock UOA rises 2% on upgrades, RM2 bil sales seen

Business & Markets 2013
Written by Chong Jin Hun of theedgemalaysia.com
Thursday, 16 May 2013 10:16
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KUALA LUMPUR (May 16): UOA Development Bhd rose as much as
2% on analysts' upgrades before the stock erased gains. This followed
news that the property firm's first quarter net profit almost tripled.
At 10.03am, UOA fell to RM2.53 with some 1.2 million shares done
after rising as much as four sen to RM2.59 earlier.
In a note, CIMB Investment Bank Bhd research head Terence Wong
said the firm has raised its target price for UOA to RM2.76 from
RM2.59 previously. The "outperform" call for the stock remains.
UOA said yesterday it posted a net profit of RM119.14 million in the
quarter ended March 31, 2013 (1QFY13) versus RM40.95 million
previously. Revenue more than doubled to RM381.86 million from
RM148.08 million.
CIMB's Wong said UOA’s 1QFY13 results were in line with
expectations. The numbers accounted for 35% and 40% of CIMB's and
street forecast respectively.
Wong said UOA's future quarters should be weaker as 1QFY13
numbers were unusually strong, boosted by sale of inventories.
"Although 2QFY13 new sales should be much weaker as the group has
not lined up any new launches until after the general elections, UOA is
nonetheless very much on track to match FY12's new sales of RM 1.71
billion," he said.
Having achieved new property sales of RM929 million in 1QFY13, Wong said UOA may reach the RM2 billion figure for the
whole year.