Mubasher: Qatar National Bank (QNB) Financial Services maintained the price target (PT) for Qatar Electricity and Water Company (QEWS) at QAR 209 per share and kept its recommendation at “accumulate”.
The brokerage arm of the largest bank in the Middle East and Africa forecast QEWS’ revenues to fall by 13% to QAR 617.1 million for the fourth quarter of 2018, expecting a “seasonally weak quarter”.
“QEWS’ stock did not keep pace with the overall growth in the stock market last year given tepid Q2-18/Q3-18 results but [QNB] continue[s] to like the company as a solid long-term play with a defensive business model,” the firm noted in a statement.
QEWS is projected to report a 15% profit decrease to QAR 1.49 billion in 2018, from QAR 1.76 billion in the previous year.
During the first nine months of 2018, QEWS’ profits rose 11.8% to QAR 1.15 billion from QAR 1.31 billion in the year-ago period.
QEWS’ financial results and recommendations for cash dividends are expected to be announced on 10 February.
QEWS’ stock rose 0.80% to close Monday at QAR 188.50 after nearly 43,300 shares were traded at a turnover of QAR 8.1 million.
