The improving 2Q21 outlook and market perceptions over the potential for growth among new businesses should support the share price going forward. In any case, BCP currently trades at a YE21 PBV of just 0.6x (1.2SD below its long-term mean of 1.0x) and a 2021 dividend yield of 3.3% (against 2.8% for the SET), which should buffer against the risk of price slippage. Within Refinery space, we prefer TOP, as its production cost efficiency makes its earnings profile relatively more leveraged to a rebounding GRM.
Core loss was in line with expectation; bottom-line beat estimate
BCP posted a 1Q21 net profit of Bt2,284m, a YoY turnaround and up 808% QoQ. Stripping out extra items, the core loss would be Bt210m, a reversal from the core earnings posted for 1Q20 but the loss was shallower QoQ. While the core loss was in line with our estimate, the bottom-line was 43% above our projection (24% above the consensus), due to bigger extra gains than expected.