[ET Net News Agency, 25 January 2021] BOCI Research lifted its target price for China
CITIC Bank (00998) to HK$4.51 from HK$4.02 and maintained its "buy" rating.
The research house said CITIC Bank realised an attributable net profit of RMB48.98bn for
2020, up 2%, beating BOCI's expectation by 10.1%, mainly due to the lower-than-expected
impairment losses. Operating income missed our expectation by 1.8% while operating
expenses were 6.3% lower than BOCI expected.
BOCI raised its 2021-22 EPS forecasts by 8.4%/10% on lower assumptions on impairment
losses and higher assumptions on loan growth. (KL)