Bangkok Bank hit by profit drop and bad loans, but cheap valuation attracts buyers
Q2 profit miss and rising bad loans Q2 net profit fell 19.8% to 9.5 billion baht, missing estimates, while the bad loan ratio rose to 3.3%, partly due to Italian-Thai Development debt. This raised concerns about asset quality.
This was a key negative factor that weighed on the stock early in the period.
Sector-wide profit pressure and TWZ default Fitch warned of sector-wide profit pressure from slower growth, thinner margins, and rising SME and retail bad loans. Later, the TWZ default exposed BBL to about 597 million baht in losses, and Q3 profit was forecast to drop 24–32% year-on-year.
These events added to negative sentiment and directly impacted earnings expectations.
Cheap valuation and dividend yield attract buyers Broker upgrades on cheap valuation (0.6–0.9x book) and 4–7% dividend yield, foreign inflows into Thai banks, a weak baht and manufacturing shift supporting exporters, Fitch’s outlook upgrade, and central bank SME credit support helped offset negatives.
These factors provided support and upside potential for the stock.
Flood relief impact seen as limited Flood relief squeezed margins, but analysts saw limited impact and a buying opportunity. This balanced the negative news with a positive spin.
This shows a counterweight to the negative drivers and highlights analyst optimism.
