BofA Securities has raised its forecast for the container shipping industry for 2026 to reflect short-term supply tightness caused by the volatile situation in the Middle East and the delayed reopening of the Red Sea. The broker increased the average net profit forecast for the industry by USD1.2 billion and the average target price for stocks by 15%.

That said, believing that the disruption to container shipping from the Middle East conflict is far less than during the pandemic or the Red Sea crisis, BofA Securities is still expecting a generally downtrend in EPS and dividends this year. It keeps a negative outlook on the container shipping sector, citing that the current price-to-book value (PBV) valuation is only at a 10% discount compared to the peak of the Red Sea crisis, but the benefits are far less than at that time.

BofA Securities raised its target prices for COSCO SHIP HOLD (01919.HK)  +0.100 (+0.665%)    Short selling $59.33M; Ratio 166.201%   from HKD11.5 to HKD13.5, for COSCO SHIPPING (601919.SH)  -0.160 (-1.053%)   from RMB13.5 to RMB16, and for OOIL (00316.HK)  -0.700 (-0.503%)    Short selling $38.14M; Ratio 151.980%   from HKD100 to HKD119. All of them were rated Underperform. SITC (01308.HK)  -0.780 (-2.210%)    Short selling $49.10M; Ratio 69.956%   was rated Neutral, with an unchanged target price of HKD37.
(HK stocks quote is delayed for at least 15 mins.Short Selling Data as at 2026-04-02 16:25.) (A Shares quote is delayed for at least 15 mins.)

AASTOCKS Financial News