PETALING JAYA: Westports Holdings Bhd may handle lower container volumes in the first quarter of this year (1Q26), as global port activity is expected to moderate ahead of Chinese New Year. Despite this quarter-on-quarter (q-o-q) volume decline, Westports’ earnings should remain resilient, supported by the second phase of its port tariff hike of 10% that became effective this month, stated Maybank Investment Bank Research (Maybank IB Research). Maybank IB Research has a “buy” call on Westports, with a target price of RM6.73 per share. After a site visit to Westports, the research house said Westports indicated that strong 4Q25 container throughput was in line with robust intra-Asia container trade volumes. For the fourth quarter of last year, Westports was expected to be supported by stronger container volumes and elevated yard utilisation.
