The US labour market showed signs of a steady slowdown in October, with job openings increasing moderately and layoffs declining, according to the latest Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) report released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics on Tuesday. Job openings, a key indicator of labour demand, rose by 372,000 to 7.744 million at the end of October. However, the September figures were revised downward to 7.372 million from the initially reported 7.443 million. Economists polled by Reuters had anticipated 7.475 million vacancies. Labour Market Dynamics While job openings increased, hires dropped by 269,000 to 5.313 million, and layoffs fell by 169,000 to 1.633 million. These figures suggest a gradual cooling of the labour market rather than a sharp contraction. Hurricanes and strikes also impacted October’s labour market data. Rebuilding efforts in storm-affected regions and the resolution of strikes at Boeing and another aerospace company are expected to contribute to a ...
Maintain Buy with unchanged Target Price of RM2.40
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| Berjaya Auto Bhd |
We maintain our BUY call for Berjaya Auto due to its:
1. Attractive product pipeline going forward;
2. Aggressive expansion from its Philippines operations, helped by a booming auto market (projected growth of 15% in 2016); and,
3. Strong ability to capture market share (2.4% YTD from 1.5%).
Continuously filling its product pipeline.
We expect Berjaya Auto (BAuto) to maintain an interesting product launch schedule in 2016, mainly from its facelifted models and diesel variants. The face-lift completely knocked down (CKD) CX-5 was recently launched in February, while the CKD CX-3 is anticipated to hit the market by end-2016. As for its “diesel wave”, we believe Mazda 6 would be introduced by mid-year. The diesel CKD CX-5 is also likely to be offered, as the model is already being assembled in Malaysia for the Thailand market.
Strong growth from the Philippines.
The Philippines operations recorded a quarterly sales growth of 41.8% YoY, driven largely by the Mazda 2 and Mazda 3, which saw an increase of volume by 69.3% and 36.4% YoY respectively. The Philippines market would become increasingly significant for BAuto, with industry sales expected to grow 15% to 350,000 units.
Forecasts and risks.
We revised our earnings forecasts for FY16-18 down by 9.4%, 3.7% and 5.0% respectively. Downside risks for our recommendation and TP include: i) unfavourable forex movements, ii) disruption in product pipeline, and iii) lacklustre consumer spending.
Source: RHB Research
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