KUALA LUMPUR (Apr 27): ManagePay Systems Bhd rose as much as 4.5% as investors continued to buy the electronic-payment specialist's shares after it secured  two contracts in recent weeks.

ManagePay (fundamental: 1.50; valuation: 0.6) rose as much as 1.5 sen to 35 sen before reducing gains. At 11.42am, the stock was traded at 34.5 sen with some 14 million shares done.

Shares of ManagePay had risen 60% this year, outperforming the FBM KLCI's 6% gain. At 34.5 sen, ManagePay has a market capitalisation of RM138.9 million.

To recap, ManagePay had last February received a letter of award from Bank Negara Malaysia to issue electronic money (e-money).

Last week (April 21), ManagePay said it was appointed as a third-party service provider for China’s UnionPay International Co Ltd.

Managepay said the contract with UnionPay was expected to contribute positively to ManagePay's earnings and net assets in the long term.

ManagePay's valuations are also worth noting. At 34.5 sen, the stock was traded at a price-earnings ratio of 93.24 times, according to Bloomberg data.

This compares to the sector average of 72.09 times.

(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.)