Safaricom is at a 10-month high, targets Sh4

Tuesday, June 26, 2012 - 00:00 -- BY ALY KHAN SATCHU

The NSE20 rallied 20.85 points to close at 3725.55, which is a fresh 2012 and a 10 and a half month closing high. The benchmark index has rallied 520 points and 16.224% in 2012. The Nairobi All Share, however, edged lower to close at 80.90. Equity Turnover was slow at 169.537m. KenolKobil closed at a fresh all time closing high. EABL and BAT are at all time Highs.

In Commercial and Services

Safaricom closed unchanged at 3.50 which is a 10 and a half month closing high. Safaricom traded 4.822m shares and was trading at 3.55 +1.43% at the closing bell. Safaricom is +18.644% in 2012 and 3.50 has morphed from chart resistance to support. 3.50 will now underpin the move towards 4.00. TPS Serena traded 4th and closed unchanged at 42.25 and has retreated 23.181% in 2012 and trades on a PE Ratio of 9.3633. I think the downdraft is overcooked and the price overdue a snap back. Uchumi firmed 1.869% to close at 16.35 and traded 585,700 shares.

Among Banks

KCB eased 1.075% on low volume of 223,200 shares to close at 23.00. KCB is +47.477% in 2012 on a total return basis. KCB trades on a PE of 6.1828. Equity Bank was the most actively traded share at the securities exchange but retreated 4.4% to close at 21.75 and traded 1.139m shares worth 25.065m. Equity Bank was better supplied during the session by a factor of 2.5 versus 1. Barclays Bank rallied 2.281% to close at 13.45 and traded 256,000 shares. City Trust was high ticked 9.38% to close at 268.00 on 100 shares worth of business.

In Industrial and Allied

KenolKobil followed Fridays rally of 9.2% with a further rally of 9.122% to close at 15.55 which is a fresh all time closing high. KenolKobil traded 828,300 shares worth 12.915m. KenolKobil has rallied 24.44% since returning on 19th June from a suspension. The day before the lifting of the suspension KenolKobil issued a profits warning. KenolKobil is the subject of a take over offer (price still being determined) from Puma Energy. I estimated a fair price to be 8x2011 earnings which equated to 17.65. I stand by that estimate. I believe this is a strategic purchase for the Trafigura subsidiary. KenolKobil has delivered a 60.603% Total Return in 2012.

KenGen traded 2nd at the Exchange. KenGen rallied 3.55% to close at 8.75 and traded 2.612m shares worth 22.974m. KenGen is +3.55% in 2012 and trades on a PE of 9.2474. KPLC rallied 1.37% to close at 14.80 and traded 178,500 shares. Buy side demand at the closing bell was 300% more than the entire volume traded during the session. KPLC has retreated 5.128% and has underperformed the NSE 20 Index by 20 percentage points in 2012. The cement makers met the profit takers with Bamburi Cement correcting 3.6585% to close at 158.00 and traded 73,500 shares. ARM eased back 1.5% to close at 197.00 and traded 1,100 shares. Portland was low ticked 4.761% to close at 60.00 on just 100 shares worth of business. EABL closed unchanged at 225.00 which is a record closing high. Crown Berger rallied 3.0075% to close at 34.25 and traded 332,200 shares which equates to 1.3999% of its Shares. Crown Berger is +63.073% in 2012.