Bualung Securities classifies AAPICO a BUY
Bualung Securities reports after AAPICO Opportunity Day 29.11.2012: Profit in line with estimate AH reported a 3Q12 net profit of Bt168m, up 24% YoY but down 40% QoQ. The result was in line with our estimate but below 22% the Bloomberg consensus. 9M12 earnings jumped 98% YoY to Bt543m (boosted by insurance payouts and stronger other income than assumed), which represents 94% of our earlier FY12 projection. Results highlights Sales rose by 42% YoY and 9% QoQ to Bt4.3bn. The 3Q12 top-line expansion was due to capacity expansion at AH's main plant in Hitech Industrial Estate in order to supply rising demand from car makers for component parts to manufacture vehicles for both domestic and export sale. Gross margin fattened further to 6.6percent from 6.3% the previous quarter. But AH's net margin fell to 4.0percent from 7.1% in 2Q12 and 4.5% in 3Q11 because of higher OPEX, mostly related to the new capacity. Outlook We anticipate that the firm will deliver weaker QoQ core earnings f...