Hot Stock UMW slips 0.6% on weak 3Q earnings

by **Cals** Mon 25 Nov 2013, 14:13

Hot Stock UMW slips 0.6% on weak 3Q earnings

Business & Markets 2013

Written by Jeffrey Tan of theedgemalaysia.com

Monday, 25 November 2013 12:56

KUALA LUMPUR (Nov 25): Shares of UMW Holdings Bhd fell as much as 0.6% after the diversified group’s core 3Q FY13 earnings per share (EPS) registered a 56% decline year-on-year (y-o-y).

In mid-morning trades, UMW Holdings was among the top losers in the local bourse.

At midday break, UMW Holdings was traded lower at RM12.38 after slipping 4 sen or 0.3% on trades of some 551,000 shares after hitting a low of RM12.34 earlier.

In a note, CIMB Investment Bank Research said the core 3Q FY13 EPS was well below its expectations, with 9M FY13 core EPS accounting for 60% of its full-year forecast.

CIMB IB research analyst Lucius Chong said Toyota sales and margins were the main drag on earnings but dividends should compensate until earnings recover.

“We cut our EPS forecasts by 8%-15% as we adjust for auto margins and lower sales volume. Our revised net asset value based target price is trimmed to RM12.77 as we roll forward,” said Chong.

“We raise our FY13 dividend per share forecast by 10 sen for the special dividend declared. But, we maintain ‘neutral’ for the stock at RM12.62.”

He said UMW Toyota saw a 17% y-o-y decline in 3Q13 revenues due to a 22% drop in unit sales. Operating profits also fell circa 49% due to aggressive rebates and promotions.

“The negative surprise for us was the operating margin at UMW Toyota, which was estimated to have fallen to 10% in 3Q13 from 16% in 3Q12,” said Chong.

“Although we cut our forecasts given the margin pressure, we do not see any structural issues.”

Chong highlighted that a 3Q13 special dividend of 10 sen was declared in addition to a dividend of 15 sen. This underpins the minimum 60% payout policy for FY13.

He recalled 35 sen has been declared to date, to which he said: “We forecast 54 sen for the full year.”

Meanwhile, Kenanga Research said UMW Holdings would see immediate technical support and resistance levels at RM12.24 and RM12.68 respectively.