Tablemac Rises to Four-Year High on Outlook, Recommendation. -Bloomberg-

Tweet

Fuente: Bloomberg.

Tableros y Maderas de Caldas SA (TABLEMA), a Colombian wood products maker, jumped to a four-year high after brokerage Celfin Capital gave it a “buy” recommendation as construction picks up in the South American country.

“We are now seeing a boom once again in construction licenses and the company sits in a sweet spot for the next upswing in building,” Celfin said in an e-mailed report May 24 by analysts Jairo Agudelo and Nicolas Velasquez. Celfin, which initiated coverage, provided a year-end target price of 16.6 pesos.

The company, also known as Tablemac, rose 2.5 percent to 12.5 pesos at 2 p.m. New York time, its highest since May 2007.

Medellin-based Tablemac plans to double sales within three years on the fourth-quarter opening of a medium-density fiberboard plant, the country’s first such facility, the company’s president, Juan Fernando Vasquez, said in a phone interview May 2 from Medellin. Investors are betting the plant could open sooner than expected, said Juan Fernando Restrepo, head of research at Interbolsa SA, Colombia’s biggest brokerage.

Tablemac said first-quarter sales rose 31 percent from a year ago to a record 28 billion pesos ($15.3 million). The company has paid off all but 0.4 percent of liabilities under the Colombian bankruptcy law after seeking protection in 2001.

“The company’s numbers are interesting and the construction sector is growing favorably,” said Cesar Cuervo, analyst at Correval SA.

Colombia granted licenses for 2.2 million square meters of construction in March, a 79 percent increase from a year earlier, according to government data.

“Start of construction can lag permits by more than 12 months, so we are expecting a strong impact on Tablemac’s results in 2012,” Celfin said.