[2008-09-16]  Baroda On a Gigantic Rise, Stanbic in a Record Low
Stanbic Bank Uganda (SBU) is in a low moment.

By the end of last week, SBU fell to its lowest level in over 8 months, owing to the persistent absence of demand.

By the end of last week, SBU dropped $0.01 (Ush20) to close at $0.12 (Ush200) with a total of 181,000 shares traded. In the recent weeks, the counter has experienced some dark days oscillating between $0.14 (Ush230) and $0.12(Ush220).

But market analysts believe that SBU is still a valuable counter and its worth owning a share of the company.

"While the stock price seems to be taking a hit, we reckon SBU's fundamentals are still strong and the current price level presents an attractive entry point to long term investors," said a statement from African Alliance, a brokerage firm in Kampala.

Experts forecast earnings per share at $0.008 (Ush13) in the financial year 2008 and a dividend per share of $0.005 (Ush8.5); the stock is trading at a leading price earning of 15.4 and a good dividend yield of 4.25%.

Bank of Baroda Uganda (BOBU0 gained another $0.02 (Ush30) ending the week at $3.43 (Ush5, 560) with 3,975 shares traded. BOBU continued its very impressive run albeit quietly as the bank boasts of one of the shrewdest management team though perceived as largely "conservative but delivering the goods."Uganda Clays Limited (UCL) traded 2.68 million shares at a day's average price of $0.101 (Ush164).

The stock is continuing to surprise investors on the upside, owing to strong retail demand following the recent 1:100 stock split.

The UCL counter continues to over shadow trading on the bourse after the shares started trading post split.

But something appears amiss with financial experts stating that the price earnings are way too high compared to the value of the split shares.

Out of the 2.8 million shares that traded by the close of the week at the entire Uganda Securities Exchange, 2.6 million were UCL shares.

The counter had 7 price changes with a high of $0.12 (Ush200) which was also the closing price and a low of Ush140.

Turnover on the counter was $272,222 (Ush441 million).
Source: Copyright © 2008 East African Business Week.