KUALA LUMPUR (May 18): Amway (M) Holdings Bhd rose as much as 32 sen or 3% to RM11.12 after the consumer products distributor reported higher net profit in the first quarter from a year earlier.

Investors have also bought Amway shares to be entitled for its dividend.

At 11:20am, Amway (fundamental: 2.5; valuation: 1.5) was the third-largest gainer across the bourse with 11,200 shares changing hands.

Last Friday, Amway said net profit increased to RM36.74 million in the first quarter ended March 31, 2015 (1QFY15) from RM25.51 million. Revenue was higher at RM321.99 million versus RM213.29 million.

Amway plans to a pay net dividend of 10 sen a share for the quarter in review.

Today, BIMB Securities Sdn Bhd said it had maintained its “buy” call for Amway shares with a target price of RM12.30 as the latter's financial result was above expectation.

In a note to clients today, BIMB said Amway's financials made up 38% and 35% of BIMB's and consensus full-year forecast.

“Significant growth (44.7%) was seen in the bottom line due to better sales performance. We are maintaining our FY15 and FY16 earnings forecast at RM95.6 million and RM94.4 million respectively with target price of RM12.30. Maintain Buy recommendation on Amway,” BIMB said.

(Note: The Edge Research's fundamental score reflects a company’s profitability and balance sheet strength, calculated based on historical numbers. The valuation score determines if a stock is attractively valued or not, also based on historical numbers. A score of 3 suggests strong fundamentals and attractive valuations.)