[ET Net News Agency, 22 March 2018] Credit Suisse lowered its target price for Tongda
Group Holdings (00698) to HK$2 from HK$2.27, and reiterated its "neutral" rating.
The research house said Tongda's 2H 2017 revenue/net income of HK$4.9bn/HK$716mn (up
8%/15% YoY) were 7%/5% below Credit Suisse's estimates, due to lower metal casing ASP.
Overall, Credit Suisse sees 2017 and 2018 as a transition period for Tongda as metal
casing under pressure and glass casing are not up yet due to scale/financing reasons. It
sees Tongda is leveraging waterproof (and other related components) and auto decoration
businesses to offset such pressures, before it ramps up glass casing.
Credit Suisse expects some recovery signals in 1Q 2018, new casing orders in Chinese
flagship models, more order wins in waterproof and related components and potential share
buybacks as key share price catalysts. It cut its 2018/19 EPS forecasts by 12%/13% for
lower revenue, higher opex and higher share numbers post CB conversion. (KL)