Top Glove share price hits record high in early trade

PETALING JAYA: Top Glove Corp Bhd’s share price hit a record high of RM10.80 in early trade yesterday as the world’s largest glove manufacturer continued its year-long uptrend on the back of strong rubber glove demand.

The Main Market-listed stock, which later retraced to RM10.70, was up by four sen or 0.38% as trade closed. Nearly 4.18 million shares changed hands yesterday.

Investor sentiment on Top Glove seems largely positive, based on the significant buying pressure on the large cap player.

According to MIDF Research, among Bursa Malaysia’s top-100 capitalised stocks, Top Glove recorded the highest net money inflow of RM15.93mil between May 28 and June 1.

“Its share price outperformed with a 1.36% increase against the FBM KLCI, which declined by 2.28% during the week under review,” stated the research house in its weekly fund flow report earlier this week.

Analysts were also generally upbeat on the glovemaker’s prospects, moving forward.

As per Bloomberg figures, a total of 11 research houses have “buy” calls on Top Glove, while another six recommend a “hold”. Four research firms have issued “sell” calls on Top Glove.

With Top Glove being one of its top “buys”, AmBank Investment Research said in a recent note that it prefers exporters such as the glovemaker, which would likely benefit from strong external demand.

Meanwhile, Kenanga Research said earlier that Top Glove’s financial results in the latest second quarter were within expectations, amid the relatively subdued corporate earnings performance on Bursa Malaysia in the first three months of 2018.

Over the last 12 months, Top Glove’s share price has nearly doubled to its current level, giving the company a market capitalisation of RM13.62bil.

At the current price, the group’s 12-month trailing price-to-earnings (PE) ratio stands at 34.21 times. In comparison, its industry peers, namely, Supermax Corp Bhd, Kossan Rubber Industries Bhd and Hartalega Holdings Bhd have PEs of 21.48 times, 26.65 times and 48.27 times, respectively.