[ET Net News Agency, 12 July 2018] Credit Suisse raised its target price for China
Merchants Bank (CMB)(03968) to HK$34 from HK$33.5 on higher long-term growth given the
bank's much stronger capital position, and upgraded its rating to "outperform" from
"neutral" as the stock's value is more attractive after the recent decline.
The research house tweaked its FY2018 earnings forecast by 2% after raising credit cost
estimates to build more reserve buffer. It believes CMB is one of the few banks that are
able to sustain a double-digit earnings growth. The expected accelerating PPoP growth is
mostly driven by retail loans that will contribute to the bank's 5-10bp margin expansion
over the next two years.
Credit Suisse believes CMB has been raising its reserve buffer that will stay at the
4.3-4.4% range, the highest for the bank. Given CMB's stronger core profitability, it also
estimated CMB has the capacity to absorb 4-5% new NPL influx each year with its PPoP. (KL)