Kiatnakin Phatra Securities, or KKPS, has raised its recommendation on Thai Union Group, or TU, from "Hold" to "Buy" and lifted its target price from 13.30 baht to 16.00 baht, saying the current share price of 12.40 baht still offers attractive upside. Today at 10:14 a.m., TU shares stood at 13.10 baht, up 0.70 baht, or 5.65%, with a high of 13.30 baht and a low of 12.90 baht on turnover of 214.97 million baht. The research team sees two key points in the investment case for TU: the core business excluding ITC is undervalued relative to the value of its stake in i-Tail Corporation, or ITC, and the core business looks set to shift from a drag on earnings to a driver of growth going forward. TU holds a 79.3% stake in ITC. After deducting the value of the ITC shares TU holds from TU's total market value, the core business excluding ITC is left with a value of roughly 7.0 billion baht, equivalent to a P/E of just 3.5 times for 2026, even though that business generates 42% of total profit in 2025 and is expected to rise to 47% in 2028. The research team expects the net margin of the ex-ITC business to rise from 1.7% in 2026 to 2.3% in 2028, supporting earnings per share growth averaging 18% a year over the next three years. KKPS also expects TU's ROA to rise from 2.6% in 2025 to 3.7% in 2028, and has raised its normalized earnings forecasts for 2026 to 2028 by an average of 16%. On dividends, it estimates TU will offer a dividend yield of 5.9% in 2026 and 6.7% in 2027, while its P/E estimate falls from 10.02 times in 2026 to 7.73 times in 2028. KKPS also issued a research report on ITC in parallel and raised its recommendation to "Buy" as well, as the two companies are linked through their shareholding structure and operating results.
Thai Union Group PCLKKPS upgraded TU from Hold to Buy and lifted its target price from 13.30 to 16.00 baht on expected 18% average annual EPS growth.
i-Tail Corp. PCLKKPS raised its recommendation on ITC to Buy in a parallel report, citing the linked shareholding and operating results with TU.
