20080827-Everbright Research-Bank of Comm (3328.HK)

Bank of Communications (BoCom) announced its 1H08 results
yesterday with net profit grown 81.2% to RMB15.5bn. EPS was
RMB0.32 with interim DPS of RMB0.10. The results were better
than market consensus and our expectation mainly due to the
higher-than-expected NIM expansion and lower effective tax
rate. We have revised up our FY08 and FY09 earnings projections
by 25.5% and 13.1% respectively. At 12.3x forward PER
and 2.70x P/B, its valuation is not demanding. Maintain “Accumulate”
with target price raised to HK$10.00 (previously
HK$9.50).