KUALA LUMPUR (May 25): Perak Corp Bhd advanced as much as 7.7% in morning trades on positive first quarter results and a special dividend of 30 sen per share bolstered gains despite the bearish market sentiment.

At 11.02am today, Perak Corp (fundamental: 1.9; valuation: 1.7) jumped 17 sen or 5.4% to RM3.29 amid a 0.7% decline in the KLCI. The top third gainer saw trades of 534,000 shares and had earlier hit a high of RM3.36.

“It is likely due to the first quarter profit and dividend declared,” InterPacific Securities’ remisier Sam Ng said over the telephone.

Last Friday, Perak Corp swung back into the black with a net profit of RM15.35 million from a net loss of RM2.03 million a year ago as revenue more than doubled to RM50.9 million.

The firm recommended a special interim single tier dividend of 30 sen per share.

According to Ng, Perak Corp is trading “too cheaply” at six times of price to earnings ratio, noting that net tangible asset stood at RM6.21.

“Nevertheless, we notice the counter has been going up for some time,” he said. Year-to-date, the counter has gained 39.15% or 92 sen, outperforming the KLCI’s 0.8%.

Today, Perak Corp has breached its furthest technical resistance level of RM3.28, according to Kenanga Research in a note today. Its immediate technical support lies at RM3.10.

(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.)