With Uber off the roads, will ComfortDelGro shift gears?

SINCE Uber's retreat from the region became apparent in late March, investor sentiment has turned for the better for transport giant ComfortDelGro.

Its shares had reached a nadir in December but have risen 10 per cent so far this year, after institutional investors bought a net S$18.4 million of it in the first two weeks of April.

Analysts reckon that the earnings downtrend at ComfortDelGro's taxi rental business, which has been the group's biggest drag, will bottom out, now that the peace-making between Grab and Uber ends their "grow-at-all-cost" subsidy war here and the worst damage is over.