by M. JAY SHEILA / pic TMR FILE

MALAYSIA Airports Holdings Bhd has been upgraded to a ‘Buy’ from ‘Neutral’ at RHB Research today, with a revised 52-week target price up 17% to RM8.28.

MAHB shares rose 8 sen or 1.13% to RM7.16, hitting an intra-day high of RM7.21, with close to 723,000 shares exchanging hands as at 12.29pm.

In a note released today, RHB Research said it revised the stock’s target price after incorporating a lower beta (1.26 to 1.21) in view of the drop in systemic risks.

“The recovery in 1Q23 international passenger movements here were within the Asia-Pacific, attributable to China’s border reopenings,” it said, adding that it continue to see encouraging growth and recovery rates in international and domestic passenger traffic in Malaysia and Turkiye.

It said March international passenger movements registered a new high of 4.46 million passengers since February 2020 – bringing 1Q23 international passenger movements to 12.6 million (up 8.1% quarter on quarter), trailing closer to 78% of 1Q19’s levels.

In Malaysia, 1Q23 international and domestic passenger traffic numbers grew QoQ by 15.5% and 1.4% to 8.4 million and 10.3 million.

RHB Research was upbeat on the government initiatives in securing deals with two Chinese tour agencies for 450,000 visitors from China to meet the target of 5 million tourist arrivals from there in 2023.

It said MAHB is also looking to deploy a ‘digital superhighway’ My-Compass app, with more than 870 million users in China, to increase Malaysia’s visibility which is set to kick-off in 2Q23.

In a separate note, MIDF Research has a ‘neutral’ call on the stock with a TP of RM7.35.