PETALING JAYA: Capitaland Malaysia Trust
(CLMT) remains on analysts’ “buy” lists despite slightly underperforming expectations in its latest quarterly results, with research houses highlighting resilient fundamentals, expanding industrial exposure, and attractive yields.
CGS International Research (CGSI Research), Maybank Investment Bank Research (Maybank IB Research) , and TA Research all maintained their positive outlook on the retail-focused real estate investment trust, citing strong operational metrics and long-term growth prospects from its logistics and industrial portfolio expansion.
Target prices ranged from 76 sen to 80 sen, implying a potential upside of about 22% to 28% from its current unit price of 62.5 sen at the time of writing.
CGSI Research reiterated its “add” call with an unchanged dividend discount model-based target price of 78 sen, backed by a forecast dividend yield of 7.7% for next year (FY26).
“We believe exposure to high-quality malls, such as Gurney Plaza and Queensbay Mall, will continue to deliver high rental revisions and resilient occupancy rates in FY25 to FY27,” said the research house in a note to clients yesterday.
CLMT’s core net profit for the first nine months of this year (9M25) came in at RM107.2mil, slightly below expectations at 70% of full-year forecasts.
However, portfolio occupancy rose to 94.7%, while rental revisions strengthened to 11.2%, driven by healthy lease renewals at its Klang Valley properties, particularly The Mines and 3 Damansara.
“Despite the implementation of the 8% sales and service tax on rental and leasing services, management remains confident that FY25 rental revisions will stay resilient,” CGSI Research noted.
Maybank IB Research similarly maintained its “buy” recommendation with a target price of 76 sen, saying the investment trust’s third quarter (3Q25) results were in line with expectations, with 9M25 earnings meeting 73% of its full-year forecast.
“Portfolio occupancy remained strong at 94.7%, driven by retail occupancy of 93.5% and full occupancy across its logistics assets,” said the research house.
The completion of the Synergy Logistics Hub and Johor acquisitions lifted CLMT’s industrial exposure to 7.9% of its assets under management from 2.8% in FY24, with management reaffirming its target to raise this to 20% by 2028.
“Retail resilience and net property income (NPI) margin expansion remained key drivers,” Maybank IB Research added, noting that NPI grew 11.5% year-on-year while NPI margins expanded to 59.6% from 56.7%.
TA Research echoed the upbeat sentiment, maintaining its “buy” call with a target price of 80 sen, slightly higher than its peers.
It said CLMT’s 9M25 realised net profit of RM107.2mil came in within expectations.
“The results reflect solid operational performance, supported by positive rental revisions, rental step-ups, and new income from recently acquired logistics assets.”
TA Research raised its FY25 to FY27 earnings forecasts for CLMT by up to 14.4% to account for stronger contributions from new properties and higher rental assumptions but trimmed its dividend per unit estimates slightly to reflect dilution from the recent RM250mil private placement that reduced gearing to 39.8% from 43% and created “financial headroom for growth”.
According to TA Research, CLMT is continuing to focus on proactive lease management and asset enhancement initiatives.
All three research houses noted CLMT’s strategic diversification into logistics and industrial assets as a long-term earnings stabiliser, with Maybank IB Research observing the enlarged logistics portfolio should provide full-year contributions from FY26 onwards, while TA Research highlighted that the assets are “fully leased, providing stable long-term income.”