Stocks in focus - AirAsia, TSH Resources, IHH Healthcare

AirAsia Bhd

AirAsia Bhd stocks were one of the top gainers on Bursa Malaysia during early trade, as investors were positive on the low cost carrier's fourth quarter net profit and its declaration of single-tier dividends of 24 sen per share.

"This is translating to an attractive net yield of 9.1 per cent," said Hwang DBS Vickers in a report this morning.

At 10:18 am, the company's shares rose over 7.5 per cent or 20 sen at RM2.85 with more than 8.43 million shares traded.

TSH Rersources Bhd

OSK Research, in its report this morning, maintained its BUY recommendation on TSH Resources Bhd after the plantation company posted better-than-expected full year net earnings.

"TSH's full year earnings of RM76.7 million were above expectations as strong fourth quarter FFB production and substantially improved refining margins helped cushion the weak performance during the first three quarters in 2012... Its full-year earnings exceeded our and consensus expectations by 15.5 per cent and 17.4 per cent respectively," said OSK Research.

"We forecast production to expand by 16.6 per cent and 17.4 per cent in 2013 and 2014 respectively"

It has upgraded TSH's target price to RM2.37, against RM2.36 previously. At 10:18am, TSH's shares was up by 3 sen at RM2.13 with 81,200 shares changed hands.

IHH Healthcare

IHH Healthcare Bhd shares were one of the top losers after the company posted a below-than-expected financial results.

At 10:16 am , the company's shares were down by 3 sen to RM3.38 with 280,900.

"IHH’s 2012 results came in above our expectation but below market consensus. Stripping out various exceptional items including sale of medical suites, the group reported core net earnings of RM470.4m, accounting for 109.6% and 88.3% of ours and consensus estimates, respectively.

"We maintain our SELL recommendation on IHH with an unchanged target price of RM2.86 based on our sum-of-parts (SOP) valuation model," said Alliance Research in a research report this morning.