Hot stock: Hi-P International shares up 9% during Monday session, highest in 10 months

SHARES in Hi-P International continue to be on a roll in Monday's session, with the contract manufacturer's stock advancing 14 Singapore cents or 9.0 per cent to trade at S$1.69 as at 1.22pm. The counter last traded at S$1.69 on May 2, 2018.

Hi-P is the Singapore bourse's most heavily traded stock on the day with about 21.9 million shares changing hands, higher than the counter's average of 13.9 million shares traded over the last 15 trading days. The value of trades on Monday as at 1.22pm stood at S$36.0 million, the highest on the Singapore Exchange.

Despite the high level of trading, a remisier The Business Times spoke to "did not hear anything on the ground". There were no married trades or off-market transactions done on HI-P shares this morning either.

A trader said that while he did not hear "any developments on the ground", he noted that in the past, shares in Hi-P - the company produces plastic and metal parts for Apple - tended to move along with reports on iPhone sales forecasts.

In February, HI-P posted a fourth-quarter net profit of S$44.8 million, a 24.9 per cent decline on the year-ago period. Revenue for the quarter also fell 10.2 per cent to S$441.9 million as the effects of US-China trade relations weighed in. However, these results beat market expectations.

Maybank Kim Eng upgraded Hi-P from "sell" to "hold", after the firm posted stronger-than-expected Q4 2018 results. The brokerage also raised its target price by 79 per cent to S$1.22 from S$0.68 previously. Meanwhile, DBS Equity Research maintained "hold" on the stock while raising the target price by 7 per cent to S$1.12 from S$0.80 previously. 

The remisier said that the calls made on Hi-P by the brokerages in February were "unlikely to play into the mood today".

Hi-P International, has factories in five Chinese cities. The company has highlighted that it is "aggressively fighting for more projects" and seeking new customers.