Evergreen Marine Corp (
Evergreen Marine, Asia's largest container shipping company by fleet size, had its rating cut to ``underperform'' from "neutral," CSFB analyst Peter Hilton said in a report dated yesterday.
Wan Hai Lines Ltd (萬海航運) and Yang Ming Marine Transport Corp (陽明海運) had their ratings cut to "neutral" from "outperform."
"The strong probability that 2006 will be a year of declining rates and profit requires" a conservative valuation, the report said.
The rating cut by CSFB came after Wan Hai's vice chairman Chen Po-ting (
Chen projected rates falling by 15 percent from now to then, the paper said.
In a move to ease market jitters following Chen's bearish guidance, Wan Hai vice president Jason Lee (
Lee, however, said the industry may see a cyclical downswing in 2007.
Still, Hilton said it is "too early to sell" as the "best exit point" is late first quarter next year. Asian container shipping companies may see earnings upgrades next year and the sector traditionally does well late into the first quarter, the report said.
Mercuries Life Insurance Co (三商美邦人壽) shares surged to a seven-month high this week after local media reported that E.Sun Financial Holding Co (玉山金控) had outbid CTBC Financial Holding Co (中信金控) in the financially strained insurer’s ongoing sale process. Shares of the mid-sized life insurer climbed 5.8 percent this week to NT$6.72, extending a nearly 18 percent rally over the past month, as investors bet on the likelihood of an impending takeover. The final round of bidding closed on Thursday, marking a critical step in the 32-year-old insurer’s search for a buyer after years of struggling to meet capital adequacy requirements. Local media reports
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