KUALA LUMPUR (Sept 21): Hong Leong Investment Bank (HLIB) Research has maintained its “Sell” rating on Top Glove Corp Bhd at 70.5 sen with a lower target price (TP) of 54 sen (from 83 sen) and said Top Glove’s 4QFY22 core loss after tax and minority interests of RM80.7 million (3QFY22: RM8.6 million, 4QFY21: RM447.4 million) brought full year FY22 core profit after tax and minority interests to RM175.2 million (-98% y-o-y). In a note on Wednesday (Sept 21), the research house said the results came in below both house and consensus estimates, at 63% and 58% respectively. “The negative deviation to our forecast was mainly due to higher-than-expected cost of sales. “We cut our earnings forecast for FY23-24f by 18-52%, as we lower our utilisation rates assumption for FY23f/24f to 55%/75%. “Our TP is lowered to 54 sen (from 83 sen), representing a PE multiple of 17.3x (at mean to its 5-year pre-pandemic average) on its CY23f EPS of 3.1 sen.
