[ET Net News Agency, 22 August 2019] HSBC Global Research lowered its target price for
Tongcheng-Elong (00780) to HK$12.3 from HK$20.5 and downgraded its rating to "hold" from
"buy".
The research house said the share price has corrected 20% since 12306.com released its
complementary ticketing function in May, impacting one of Tongcheng-Elong's high-margin
VAS (value-added services) revenue streams.
HSBC expects slower earnings growth in 2019 at 29% (versus 36% earlier) as one of its
high-margin VAS - express ticketing for trains - faces challenges from a similar function
launched by 12306.com.
That said, HSBC believes Tongcheng is releasing differentiated functions which are not
offered by its peers and which might drive faster recovery into 4Q. HSBC cut its
2019/20/21 earnings by 5%/7%/12% to reflect the impact of the reduction in train ticket
VAS. (KL)