[ET Net News Agency, 7 November 2019] Credit Suisse raised its target price for Johnson
Electric (00179) to HK$19.63 from HK$18.44 and upgraded its rating to "outperform" from
"neutral".
The research house said Johnson's 1H FY2020 earnings of US$162mn (up 16% YoY) beat
consensus estimates. The margin improvement was mainly attributed to lowered steel raw
material prices and declining staff costs.
Looking into 2H, Credit Suisse expects Johnson's automobile product group to enjoy
sequential improvement, thanks to (1) production volume recovery globally, especially in
China; and (2) electric oil pump order starting delivery from 3Q. It believes Johnson's
industrial product segment will bottom out if there is any easing sign of trade war or
Brexit, which will improve the consumers' confidence.
Credit Suisse revised up its FY2020-22 earnings forecasts by 2-28% to factor in the
one-off disposal gain and higher-margin assumption. (KL)