Asia Plus Recommends 25 Laggard Big-Cap Stocks to Rise from Now On

As COVID-19 situation in Thailand is improving, fund inflow is returning to the SET in late-August. Asia Plus Securities (ASPS) maintains SET Index target at 1,670 pts, based on 2021  EPS forecast at B73.6 (38% EPS growth), one-year bond yield of 0.5%, market earning yield gap of 3.9% (average), and 2021 expected P/E ratio of 22.7x. SET Index is 1,633.7 pts at present, equal to market earning yield gap of 4%, still attracting surplus liquidity. Thus, it recommends 25 laggard plays with high upsides, such as SPRC, TOP, MAJOR. KTC, CRC, TTB. SAWAD, AOT, PTT, PTTEP and VGI.

ASPS stated that the SET Index is now rising near the level after COVID-19 wave two ended at 1,642.8  pts. Meanwhile, some stocks are still laggard from the same period, so they are expected to rise from now on. ASPS picks 25 stocks in SET100 that are still laggard from after COVID-19 wave two; 

BANPU (return -19.6%), RS (return -18.5%), JAS (return -17.6%), STGT (return -14.7%), STEC (return -14.2%), SPRC (return -13.9%), TOP (return -13.8%), RATCH (return -13.5%), MAJOR (return -12.0%), STA (return -11.8%), PTL (return -9.8%), PLANB (return -9.7%)

KTC (return -9.7%), NRF (return -9.3%), CRC (return -9.2%), PRM (return -9.1%), TASCO (return -9.0%), TTB (return -8.4%), SAWAD (return -8.1%), BAM (return -8.0%), QH (return -7.5%), AOT (return -7.3%), PTT (return -7.2%), PTTEP (return -6.6%) and VGI (return -6.0%).

Among these stocks, ASPS recommend stocks that are expected to rebound more robustly than most stocks amid fund inflow: STEC, SPRC, TOP, MAJOR, KTC, CRC, TTB, SAWAD, AOT, PTT, PTTEP, and VGI. Particularly, 2022 earnings of some companies are expected to grow higher than pre-COVID-19 levels in early 2020, especially TOP, SAWAD, TTB, and KTC.