Beijing North Star ING Financial Markets maintained its 'sell' rating on Beijing North Star after the company made an application to the China Securities Regulatory Commission to issue a maximum 1.5 billion A shares in Shanghai to finance its two property development projects in Beijing. ING said the new issue represented about 80 per cent of the China property developer's outstanding shares. It warned that the new issue would dilute earnings per share as the two projects would make no contribution to earnings in the next three to five years. ING has a target price of 88 HK cents on the company. China Shipping Development DBS Vickers Securities has reiterated its 'buy' call on China Shipping Development and suggests investors accumulate the shares below $1.80. The brokerage said China would source more oil from neighbouring countries in the wake of increasing concerns about a possible disruption of oil supplies from Iraq and rising energy consumption. 'China Shipping, China's dominant domestic oil tanker operator, is a key beneficiary,' DBS said. The brokerage projects the company will report earnings per share of 16 cents against 10 cents last year next Tuesday. DBS has a target price of $2. China Pharmaceutical Enterprise and Investment Corp UOB Kay Hian maintained its 'buy' recommendation on the stock. It expects the company's net profit will surge 57.4 per cent to $220 million for last year and by 80 per cent to $396 million this year. 'The strong earnings momentum will be led by production capacity expansion for new drugs and strength in Vitamin C prices,' UOB said. The brokerage said China Pharmaceutical's present valuation of 7.4 times its expected earnings this year was undemanding compared with its peers. UOB has a target price of $2.60 for the stock.
