Altus sustains market interest following previous week’s listing

INVESTOR EXCITEMENT over new listings made newly introduced Altus Property Ventures, Inc. (APVI) one of the most actively traded stocks last week.

Following its debut on June 26, enthusiasm over the real estate firm persisted with a total of 60.58 million shares worth P2.42 billion being traded from June 29 to July 3, data from the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) showed. This made it the second most actively traded issue during the period.

APVI ended at P30 apiece on Friday, up 62.2% from its P18.5 closing price a week before.

“The excitement in new listings (as we saw in MerryMart Consumer Corp.’s initial public offering) appeared to have carried over to APVI’s listing [on June 26], buoying price action. As a real estate company, having a strong recurring income is important,” said China Bank Securities Corp. Research Director Rastine Mackie D. Mercado in an e-mail, noting the firm generates leasing income from the North Wing of Robinsons Place Ilocos Norte.

Mr. Mercado also pointed to the company’s development plans as a “positive catalyst.”

In a separate e-mail, Unicapital Securities, Inc. Equity Analyst King A. De Mesa shared a similar assessment: “The market is pretty weak during this time amid uncertainty regarding the real economic condition and secondquarter corporate earnings. Traders have found some excitement trading the newly listed APVI amid the weak market, just like MerryMart,” he said.

“APVI’s stock price doesn’t really reflect the value of its business. APVI is becoming more like a speculative stock in my view,” he added.

Altus, a former unit of Robinsons Land Corp. (RLC), made its debut in the local stock market on June 26 by way of introduction, or without immediately offering its shares publicly.