[ET Net News Agency, 24 November 2020] HSBC Global Research lifted its target price for
Tongcheng-Elong Holdings (00780) to HK$16.4 from HK$16 and maintained its "buy" rating.
The research house said Tongcheng delivered a largely in-line set of 3Q results. HSBC
expects Tongcheng's investment strategy to expand its user base (2021 target for annual
paying users of 200m, almost doubling in three years) and improving cross-selling strategy
across different products.
HSBC mildly lifted its 2021/22 earnings estimates by 1%/2% as faster top-line growth
is likely to be offset by higher S&M expenses. It expects Tongcheng-Elong's non-GAAP OPM
to improve to 23% in 2021 (versus 19% in 2019) on (1) faster top-line growth from a higher
contribution from value-added services; (2) improving GPM on savings in order processing
and bandwidth costs; and (3) operating leverage. (KL)