[ET Net News Agency, 7 January 2021] J.P. Morgan tweaked its target price for Link REIT
(00823) to HK$70.1 from HK$70 but downgraded its rating to "neutral" from "overweight".
The research house believes the short-term cap on Link's share price will be from its
book value, which was last reported at HK$74.6. While JPM expects 2-3% negative rental
reversion for its portfolio, the research house expects Link's next reported book value to
be HK$72.
With the stock trading close to a 5% discount to book, it is hard to envisage the stock
trading above book near-term unless the expectation of capital recycling can be reignited.
JPM believes this will be contingent upon when the company can restart its asset
disposal program and use the proceeds for either share buyback or acquisition. JPM does
expect that there will be a possibility of this happening in 2021 and, if it does, this
could be a catalyst to upgrade the stock again, all else equal. (KL)