[ET Net News Agency, 12 July 2019] Daiwa Research lowered its target price for Geely
Automobile (00175) to HK$16 from HK$18 and maintained its "buy" rating.
The research house estimated Geely's gross margin to have weakened to 17% in 1H (versus
20% in 1H 2018) due to the deeper-than-expected National 5 vehicle discounts in 2Q.
However, for 2H, Daiwa looks for HoH improvement in the GP margin to 18.5%, in view of
higher pricing for National 6 cars and likely no discounts in the near term to dealers.
As such, Daiwa revised down its 2019-21 EPS forecasts by 3-12%, mainly to reflect the
worse-than-expected margin pressure in 1H. It also trimmed its 2019-21 gross margin
estimates to 18-20% (from 19-20%). (KL)