Reuters: Hot Stocks: STOCKS NEWS SINGAPORE-OCBC, Maybank downgrade Raffles Medical

Reuters: Hot Stocks Reuters.com is your source for breaking news, business, financial and investing news, including personal finance and stocks. Reuters is the leading global provider of news, financial information and technology solutions to the world's media, financial institutions, businesses and individuals. // via fulltextrssfeed.com

STOCKS NEWS SINGAPORE-OCBC, Maybank downgrade Raffles Medical Jul 24th 2012, 01:02 Mon Jul 23, 2012 9:02pm EDT OCBC Investment Research and Maybank Kim Eng downgraded Singapore healthcare service provider Raffles Medical Group Ltd , citing smaller potential upside from the current share price level after a recent surge. Raffles shares have risen around 17 percent so far this month, outperforming the 2 percent gain in the FT ST Midcap Index. "We believe this has been buoyed largely by positive sentiment from the impending dual-listing of IHH Healthcare Berhad," OCBC said, adding that Raffles' defensive earnings quality is attractive to investors amid the global volatility. IHH, the healthcare arm of Malaysia's state investor Khazanah Nasional Bhd, will debut on the Malaysian and Singapore bourses on July 25. OCBC said Raffles' second-quarter net profit slightly missed forecasts due to higher-than-expected cost pressures. Raffles' net margin fell to 16.1 percent in the quarter from 17.4 percent a year earlier, it noted. OCBC downgraded Raffles to hold from buy and lowered its target price to S$2.63 from S$2.73. Maybank expects Raffles to raise prices in the range of 10-20 percent in the coming quarters and it forecast net margins for the 2012 fiscal year to come in at 17.2 percent, about 1.3 percentage points lower than in 2011. The broker downgraded Raffles to hold from buy but kept its target price of S$2.71. For related stories, click and 0859 (0059 GMT) (Reporting by Eveline Danubrata in Singapore; eveline.danubrata@thomsonreuters.com) Link this Share this Digg this Email Reprints

You are receiving this email because you subscribed to this feed at blogtrottr.com. If you no longer wish to receive these emails, you can unsubscribe from this feed, or manage all your subscriptions