ALI shares dip despite developments

STOCKS of Ayala Land, Inc. (ALI) inched down weekly despite promising announcements as external factors dragged markets, analysts said.

Data from the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) website showed ALI ranking sixth last week among most actively traded stocks by value, as 72.16 million shares worth P1.60 billion exchanged hands up to Friday.

The stock closed the week with a value of P21.30, lower by 1.8% from the previous Friday’s P21.70. The property sector and the PSE index (PSEi) were likewise on the red week on week as the former declined by 1.3% and the latter by 1.9%.

Ayala Land saw an even sharper drop of 18.5% year to date from its P26.20 close on the last trading day of 2024, outpacing the downward movements of the property sector (6.5%) and PSEi (9.3%) during the span.

The price dip came despite a couple of welcome moves made by the company over that week.

On Tuesday, ALI announced the P13.5-billion sale of its 50% stake in Alabang Town Center to the Madrigal family.

The company said that proceeds from the sale will be used to support leasing growth plans in the future.

Aniceto K. Pangan, equity trader at Diversified Securities, Inc., said that the company “unlocked a premium value from its mature asset” through the sale to help boost its leasing portfolio and “provide better returns to its capital.”

Additionally, Ayala Land also announced the launch of its second CityFlats living development in Cebu the previous Friday.

CityFlats properties aim to cater to residential- and working-space needs of young professionals and students — cutting down affordability and travel issues for the targeted stakeholders.

“Taken together, the Alabang Town Center stake sale and the CityFlats Cebu launch are both relatively good news […] even so, ALI shares still fell, which suggests the market move was likely driven by external factors,” Luis A. Limlingan, head of sales at Regina Capital Development Corp., added in a Viber message.

On Thursday, the PSEi’s downward movement already began as it inched down 0.78% to end at 6,031.48.

Analysts said the sell-off was due to the market lacking catalysts for the week and instead setting its eyes on upcoming US inflation data which may set the tone for the Fed’s outlook.

Banks’ exposure to the property sector also slipped in the July-September period.

Data from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas showed that the banking sector’s real estate investments over the span slipped by 5.75% to P354.75 billion from P376.41 billion last year.

Analysts said the exposure eased due to higher nonperforming real estate loans in the quarter due to muted developments amid weaker demand.

Moreover, Mr. Pangan noted that valuation for ALI was low with its price in the week, citing its decline to levels lower than those seen during the pandemic.

According to PSE data, ALI shares dropped by 38% from its closing price of P34.35 at year-end 2020.

Moving forward, Mr. Limlingan said that Ayala Land investors may monitor updates on project launches, capital spending plans, and changes in real estate demand.

For this week, Mr. Pangan placed immediate support at P20 and immediate resistance at P22.70.

On the other hand, Mr. Limlingan pegged support and resistance at around P21-20 and P23-24.50, respectively. — Matthew Miguel L. Castillo