About a year ago Core-Pacific Yamaichi recommended home appliance maker Raymond Industrial as a 'buy' and set a target price with an upside of 48 per cent.
Raymond had just reported a first-half net profit surge of 52.4 per cent year on year to $35.3 million. Turnover increased by 55.5 per cent to $453 million.
The broker increased its turnover forecast for the full year by 8.7 per cent to $1.14 billion but trimmed its net profit forecast by 6.4 per cent to $102.7 million, assuming a lower gross margin.
The broker said Raymond shares had been oversold on concerns of raw material costs and the attractive dividend yield of 6 per cent forecast for 2004. It estimated fair value at $3.40, compared with a price on September 10 last year of $2.30.
Raymond reported a profit attributable to shareholders of $123.44 million for the full year 2004, compared with $50.26 million in 2003. Last month it reported net profit of $25.19 million for the first half of 2005, down 28.78 per cent from a year ago, and paid an interim dividend of 5 cents.
The counter closed on Friday at $2.40.
