Mubasher: Qatar National Bank (QNB) Financial Services raised Qatar Electricity and Water Company’s (QEWS) price target (PT) by 22.6% to QAR 233 per share instead of QAR 190.
Although the second-quarter financials of QEWS were admittedly weaker-than-expected and the stock has dipped after touching its YTD high of QR205.25, the firm said that it believes there is long-term upside in the name, according to a statement released late on Wednesday.
In July, QEWS reported a 9.1% year-on-year drop in its profit for the second quarter of 2018, recording QAR 419 million ($115.6 million), compared to QAR 461 million ($127.2 million).
As for the first six months of 2018, the Qatari firm's net profits inched up 0.25%, against expectations, to QAR 813 million, from QAR 811 million in H1-17.
However, the brokerage arm of QNB estimates an increase of 4% concerning QEWS’ forward revenue over 2018 to QAR 2.7 billion instead of QAR 2.5 billion, according to the statement.
Geopolitical risks cannot be modeled, which may lead to a negative performance over this year. Besides risks in international expansion, there is always a chance domestic projects get delayed, QNB Financial Services noted.
By 10:29 am Qatar time, QEWS’s stock declined 1.27% at QAR 192.47.
