Holcim Indonesia extends gains on robust earnings outlook

Holcim Indonesia extends gains on robust earnings outlook
06 December 2007


Shares of PT Holcim Indonesia continued to surge Thursday after brokerages recently upgraded their earnings forecasts for the country’s third-largest cement maker on expectations demand will stay strong.

"Fundamentally, Holcim is now the favorite," said Oos Rosady, a dealer with Mandiri Securities.
Rosady said he is not surprised that most analysts are now bullish on the stock since the company reported that net profit for the first nine months rose 22.8 per cent to 153.11bn rupiah.

At 11.30 am (0430 GMT), Holcim Indonesia was up 80 rupiah or 4.7 per cent at 1,800 rupiah, after gaining 5.5 percent on Wednesday.

Earlier this week, Trimegah Securities raised its target price for the stock to 2,100 rupiah from 790 rupiah as it upgraded its earnings forecasts.

Deutsche Securities also raised its target price to 2,100 rupiah from 1,450 rupiah.

"We expect the company to benefit greatly from robust cement demand outlook amid ample capacity coupled with a marked improvement on its profitability due to a more profit-oriented marketing strategy, cost efficiencies and operating leverage," the brokerage said in a note to clients.

Deutsche said it raised its earnings forecast for Holcim Indonesia by four per cent to 248bn rupiah for 2007, by 16 per cent to 605bn rupiah for 2008 and by 19 per cent to 721bn rupiah for 2009.
Holcim Indonesia is 77.3 per cent owned by Holcim.
Published under Cement News