KUALA LUMPUR: Shares of IHH Healthcare Bhd
rose in early trade after the group returned to the black in the first quarter ended March 31.
The healthcare company rose 2.08%, or 11 sen to RM5.41, its highest in almost three weeks.
IHH Healthcare returned to the black with a net profit of RM375.62mil in the first quarter ended March 31 (1Q21) from a net loss of RM319.78mil a year ago.
Its turnover rose 11% to RM3.9bil from RM3.56bil a year ago.
Kenanga Research said IHH’s 1Q21 core net profit of RM336mil came in at 36%/33% of the house/consensus full-year forecast.
“We consider the results to be within our expectation in anticipation of slower quarters ahead due to surging Covid-19 cases.
“We highlight that in 1QFY21, India and Acibadem registered second consecutive quarterly profits. No change to our earnings forecast. Maintain outperform and SoP-target price of RM6.05,” it said.
RHB Research said IHH’s 1Q21 earnings beat expectations due to the strong earnings recovery in Singapore, India,and Turkey.
“We remain optimistic on its inherent diversified operations to ward off short-term hiccups,and its prime position to ride on the demand recovery as vaccination efforts ramp up globally.
“Valuations are attractive as IHH is currently trading at 15x FY22FEV/EBITDA, which represents-2SD from its 5-year mean,” RHB said.
“1Q21core net profit of RM336mil makes up 31% and 33% of our and consensus’ full-year FY21 expectations,” it added.
