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Written by Joseph Chin of theedgemalaysia.com
Thursday, 28 April 2011 07:04
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KUALA LUMPUR: Stocks on Bursa Malaysia are expected to climb on Thursday, April 28, underpinned by the strong overnight close on Wall Street where the Nasdaq jumped to a 10-year high as U.S. stocks rallied.
The Nasdaq Composite Index closed at 2,869.88, its highest close since Dec 12, 2000.
The Dow Jones industrial average gained 95.59 points, or 0.76 percent, to 12,690.96. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index rose 8.42 points, or 0.62 percent, to 1,355.66. The Nasdaq Composite Index climbed 22.34 points, or 0.78 percent, to 2,869.88.
Stocks to watch include Focus Lumber, TANJUNG OFFSHORE BHD [], low-profile EUPE CORPORATION BHD [] and KFC HOLDINGS (M) BHD []. Other stocks which could attract interest are TH PLANTATION []s Bhd, Masterskill Education Group Bhd (MEGB).
RHB Research has valued Focus Lumber Bhd, which will be listed on Wednesday, at 78 sen, based on target PER of 7.0 times FY11 EPS of 11.2 sen. The offer price is 60 sen
Tanjung Offshore Bhd’s unit has received a RM15 million contract to provide valve repair and maintenance services for Murphy Sarawak Oil Co. Ltd.
Its unit Tanjung Maintenance Services Sdn Bhd’s contract was effective from March 2011 to March 2014 with options to renew for another two years.
But comments by Maybank IB Research could weigh down the share price. The research house said it expected Tanjung Offshore’s 1Q 2011 earnings to likely miss street expectations again.
“Cost management strategies and operating prospects remain the key concerns. An equity cash-call could ensue should the cash situation worsen.
“Tanjung Offshore will also suffer an RM8 million penalty cost for early bonds redemption. Valuations are expensive and consensus forecasts are aggressive. Nonetheless, Ekuinas’ next move remains a wild card,” it said.
EUPE expects pre-tax profit of more than RM30 million from a residential property project with a gross development value (GDV) in excess of RM130 million. EUPE unit EUPE Kemajuan Sdn.Bhd was buying 17.15 acres of land in Petaling district for RM37.35 million from Desaminium Jaya Sdn Bhd.
“The land is purchased for the purpose of residential development targeting about 150 units of terrace and semi detached homes with a GDV in excess of RM130 million and profit before tax estimated above RM30.0 million.
TH PLANTATIONS BHD [] targets to increase its land bank to 50,000 hectares from 39,113 ha by 2012, a company official said.
TH Plantations plans to acquire the first "substantial parcel" by the end of June and are looking at Sumatera and Kalimantan where land prices are said to be lower compared to Sabah and Sarawak.
A total of RM150 million has been allocated this year to build a palm oil mill in Sarawak and the company's replanting programme.
The company said revenue for FY2011 could rise 14.8% to RM420 million from RM365.97 million last year if the price of crude palm oil averages between RM3,400 and RM3,500 for 2011.
Masterskill Education Group Bhd (MEGB) is venturing into the provision of undergraduate business programmes in a tie-up with The University of Newcastle.
MEGB said on Wednesday, April 27 the proposal covered the bachelor of business and bachelor of commerce programmes.
KFCH will open 25 new outlets in Malaysia by year-end at a cost of RM45 million. Managing Director Jamaludin Md Ali said 10 out of the 25 outlets would have drive-thru service.
KFCH which operates 515 outlets now opened 40 new outlets last year.
"For Malaysia, we estimate each outlet to cost around RM1 million while for the drive-thru outlet, it will cost between RM2 milion and RM3 million each," he said.
Meanwhile, Jamaludin said KFC was looking at adding nine outlets in India, which would bring the total number of KFC outlets operating there to 17 by December.