We expect 2Q24F earnings of micro finance companies under coverage to be essentially flat QoQ but grow decently YoY, with a QoQ rise in credit cost, lower NIM and good loan growth. A sharp fall in consumer finance share prices in July reflected rising concern on asset quality following a negative sign from AEONTS and bank results. We see micro finance companies as continuing pressured by a deterioration in asset quality (though NPL formation has passed the worst) and rising cost of funds with good loan growth. We trim our forecasts by 3-4% by hiking our credit cost forecast to reflect the uneven economic recovery. We also cut TP by de-rating PBV target to reflect lower L-T ROE. We upgrade MTC to Outperform in response to share price weakness. We keep TIDLOR as our sector pick on the strongest 2024F earnings recovery and attractive valuation.
MTC: Expect stable NPL inflow and credit cost. We expect 2Q24F earnings of Bt1.41bn, +1% QoQ and +17% YoY due to higher NII. We look for continued good loan growth at 5% QoQ and 17% YoY. NIM is expected to continue pressured by rising cost of funds. MTC saw NPL inflow come down MoM in April due to proactive debt collection, up MoM in May when the school year starts and stable MoM in June. Headline NPLs are expected to fall due to proactive NPL sales & write-offs. Credit cost is expected to be essentially flat QoQ at 3.17% (+1 bps QoQ, -59 bps YoY), below its full-year guidance of no higher than 3.5%. Branches grew 192 in 2Q24, fewer than 251 in 1Q24, suggesting lower QoQ opex growth.
TIDLOR: Credit cost likely to exceed its guidance. We forecast 2Q24 earnings at Bt1.11bn, flat QoQ and +19% YoY (larger NII and non-NII). Credit cost is expected to go up 9 bps QoQ (+22 bps YoY) to 3.42% in 2Q24, exceeding its full-year guidance of 3-3.35%. QoQ loan growth is expected to be 4% QoQ and 19% YoY, mostly car & motorcycle title loans with a tighter credit policy on truck loans. NIM is expected to be flattish as higher cost of funds should be offset by better loan yield after an interest rate hike at the end of 2023. Non-NII is expected to slip 2% QoQ (+17% YoY) on seasonally lower insurance premium sales QoQ. Cost to income ratio is expected to rise slightly QoQ to 54.3%.
SAWAD: Expect rising credit cost with largest NIM squeeze. We expect 2Q24 earnings of Bt1.26bn, flat QoQ and +13% YoY. We expect continued solid loan growth at 5% QoQ and 19% YoY in the quarter. NIM is expected to fall 20 bps QoQ due to rising cost of funds and falling loan yield as a result of the cap on motorcycle HP interest rate. We expect 2Q24 credit cost to rise 31 bps to 2.3%. Cost to income ratio is expected to ease slightly QoQ on smaller losses on repossessed vehicles.
Raised credit cost. Due to a weaker macro backdrop than expected, we raise our credit cost forecast for micro finance firms by 5 bps in each of 2024 and 2025. We still expect credit cost to ease in 2024 after firms tightened their credit policy. We cut our forecasts by 3-4% for each of 2024 and 2025. We still expect a good EPS growth for MTC (+16% in 2024, +20% in 2025) and TIDLOR (+16% in 2024, +22% in 2025).
Cut TP. Mainly by de-rating PBV target to reflect lower L-T ROE, we cut MTC’s TP from Bt50 to Bt48 (based on 2.35x PBV or 15x PE for 2025F), TIDLOR’s TP from Bt27 to Bt25 (based on 2x PBV or 14x PE for 2025F) and SAWAD’s TP from Bt43 to Bt40 (based on 1.55 PBV or 10x PE for 2025F).
Upgrade MTC to Outperform; keep TIDLOR as sector pick. We keep TIDLOR as our sector pick as we expect it to exhibit the strongest earnings recovery at 20%. Due to share price weakness, we upgrade MTC to Outperform from Neutral.
Key risks: 1) Asset quality risk from an uneven economic recovery, 2) credit cost risk from falling used vehicle prices, 3) rising competition from banks, and 4) ESG risk from market conduct and regulatory risk.
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