Dow Jones Newswires: Tencent shares rally after fourth-quarter earnings growth

This post was originally published on this site

Tencent Holdings Ltd. shares extended gains in afternoon trade on Thursday, as analysts welcomed the company’s fourth-quarter revenue turnaround and raised target prices on the stock.

Shares of the Chinese technology giant
700,
+8.18%

rose as much as 7.4%, hitting an intraday high of 372.80 Hong Kong dollars (US$47.50) shortly after the midday trading break.

The rally came after Tencent on Wednesday posted 12% net profit growth for the fourth quarter. Revenue rose 1%, reversing from two quarters of consecutive top-line declines earlier in 2022.

“Tencent exited 2022 on a solid turnaround trend,” Citi analysts led by Alicia Yap said in a post-earnings note. Citi raised its target price on the stock to HK$520 from HK$496 and kept a buy rating on the stock.

Jefferies analysts led by Thomas Chong shared that optimism, raising their target price to HK$460.00 from HK$456.00 with an unchanged buy rating. Meanwhile, US Tiger Securities analyst Bo Pei upgraded the target price to HK$380 from HK$365, while also maintaining a buy rating.

“Overall, Tencent should benefit from the improving macro environment in 2023,” Mr. Pei said in a note.

Write to Yifan Wang at yifan.wang@wsj.com