SINGAPORE (April 21): OCBC Investment Research and RHB are reiterating their respective “buy” and “hold” calls with a fair value estimate of $2.20 and $2.07 target price, after the manager of CapitaLand Mall Trust (CMT) reported a 1Q17 distribution per unit (DPU) of 2.73 cents, unchanged from a year ago.
(See also: CapitaLand Mall Trust 1Q DPU comes in flat at 2.73 cents)
The flat DPU is said to be in line with both brokerages’ expectations.
In a Friday report, OCBC analyst Andy Wong continues to underscore CMT’s stature as a “quality defensive blue-chip stock”, which he believes would still provide value for investors in light of geopolitical tensions and macroeconomic uncertainties.
This comes despite Wong’s observations of an operating environment which is “likely to remain tough”, given the trust’s slight dip in shopper traffic and tenants’ sales per sq ft, in addition to negative rental reversions of 2.3% during the quarter.
Likewise, RHB analyst Vijay Natarajan draws attention to the negative rental reversion seen by CMT’s mall portfolio as a result of a challenging retail environment – and expects the trust’s 14.5% of leases due for renewal this year, to see either flat or slightly negative rent reversions as well.
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“Overall, we expect CMT's portfolio to remain under pressure from a challenging retail climate in Singapore. At current share price levels the stock trades at 1.1x P/BV, which we deem as fair,” he concludes.
As at 10.42am, units of CMT are down by 1 cent at $2.
