Zhongtong Finance learned that Dong-e Securities issued a research report stating that it lowered Cathay Pacific Airways' (00293) target price by 21% to HKD 8.8 and adjusted its investment rating from "buy" to "shareholding". The latest forecast for Cathay is HKD 3.54 per share of EBITDA in 2025. The bank believes that factors such as the continuous decline in passenger revenue, the increase in employee and depreciation costs, the slow recovery of affiliates affected by the economic slowdown, and the slowdown in local travel demand will limit Cathay's profit growth in the second half of the year.

The report stated that Cathay Pacific Airways' current valuation is not high. The forecast price-to-book ratio (P/B) for the next 12 months is 0.89 times, which is equivalent to the average value of the past 10 years (excluding the impact during the epidemic); the forecast EV/EBITDA for the next 12 months is 4.2 times, which is lower than the average value of the past 10 years (excluding the impact during the epidemic) of 6.9 times. In addition, the current stock dividend yield is still attractive, which is expected to support the stock price. However, if there is no more surprising news to the market, the space for short-term stock price increases is expected to be limited.