This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily on June 4, 2018

Parkson Holdings Bhd (+ve)
SHARES in Parkson Holdings Bhd (fundamental: 0.8/3, valuation: 0.9/3) triggered our proprietary momentum algorithm last Friday for the first time this year.

The stock closed six sen or 11% higher at 56 sen, giving it a market capitalisation of RM613.6 million. A total of 8.37 million shares were done, exceeding its 200-day average volume of 710,877 shares.

Parkson returned to the black in the third financial quarter ended March 31, 2018 (3QFY18), with a net profit of RM25.3 million compared to a net loss of RM33.24 million a year ago, on improved performance of its retailing operations. However, Parkson posted a marginal 0.12% decline in revenue to RM1.06 billion in 3QFY18 compared with 3QFY17.

Looking ahead to the fourth financial quarter, Parkson expects the group’s retailing operations in Malaysia and Indonesia to benefit from festive shopping by Muslims in June, while other regions will experience lower traffic flows in their retail stores in the absence of major festivities.

At the current share price, the group is trading at 0.25 times its book value.