Maybank IB Research reiterates 'buy' on AirAsia

Maybank Investment Banking (IB) Research has reiterated its 'buy' call on AirAsia Bhd (AirAsia) with an unchanged target price of RM2.05 per share.

In a note today, the research firm said the rating is based on eight times AirAsia's financial year 2015 price-earnings ratio.

"We are confident that AirAsia's outlook for the second half of 2015 and 2016 is positive, given the low fuel price environment and the fact that Malaysia Airlines has cut significant capacity and raised its published fares significantly since August 2015," it said.

Maybank IB said although fears of AirAsia heading into deep financial trouble similar to the 2008-09 scenario are prevalent among many shareholders, it sees no such risk as the balance sheet and cash flow statement are much sturdier than back in 2008-09.

"The fears are overblown and the stock is trading significantly below its intrinsic value.

"We remain adamant that AirAsia is a 'buy' as all the negative elements have been priced in but the positives have been ignored," Maybank IB Research added.

AirAsia shares, which traded as low as 76.5 sen recently, closed at RM1.22 (-0.01 sen) today, with 33.75 million units traded.