KUALA LUMPUR, May 27 ― CGS-CIMB has reiterated its ‘add’ call on Malayan Banking Bhd (Maybank), as the bank is set to benefit from the forecast overnight policy rate (OPR) hike in the second quarter of this year (Q2 2022F).
“We expect Maybank’s net profit to increase quarter-on-quarter to RM2.05 billion to RM2.1 billion in Q2 2022F as it will start to benefit from the positive impact of the hike in the OPR.
“We also expect the bank to see year-on-year net profit growth of between 4.0 per cent and 7.0 per cent in Q2 2022F,” it said in a research note today.
CGS-CIMB further said that the OPR hike would help to cushion some of the negative impact of the bank’s lacklustre investment income due to losses from fixed-income securities amid rising interest rates.
Commenting on Maybank’s earning per share (EPS), CGS-CIMB said it has raised its EPS forecast on Maybank, reflecting another 25 basis point hike in OPR in its estimates.
“Consequently, our EPS forecasts are lifted by 0.7 per cent for financial year (FY) 2022 and one per cent for FY23-24.
“As such, we have increased our target price for Maybank’s shares to RM10 from RM9.80,” it said. ― Bernama
