UOB BUY Target Price $25 by Credit Suisse

Credit Suisse has upgraded Singapore’s United Overseas Bank (UOBH.SI) to outperform from neutral and raised its target price for to $25.00 from $22.50.

Credit Suisse has raised its earnings per share estimates for UOB from 2011-2013 by 5-7% due to higher loan growth, fee income and an improvement in net interest margins in the second half of 2011.

“UOB is set to show the best loan growth in 2011 with a significant lead over DBS (DBSM.SI) and OCBC (OCBC.SI) already in the first quarter. Banks expect overseas loan growth to be the main driver in 2011, with UOB seeing the highest overseas loan growth,” said Credit Suisse in a report.

The brokerage also added that UOB is its new sector top pick, given its attractive return-on-equity of 13.7% versus 11.2% for DBS (DBSM.SI) and 12.8% for Oversea Chinese Banking Corp (OCBC.SI).