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COMMONWEALTH Bank of Australia has shot past the world’s biggest miner BHP Group and is now the country’s most valuable company.
The lender’s market capitalisation hit a record high of A$229 billion (S$149 billion) as at midday in Sydney on Wednesday (Jul 31). That leaves it comprising 9.6 per cent of the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index of the nation’s leading firms, ahead of BHP’s weighting which slipped below 9 per cent. The valuation gap has widened since the pair switched top spot on Jul 12.
The changing status highlights investor appetite for the Matt Comyn-led institution, that has become more beloved than the producer of earth’s most in-demand minerals.
Such a differential would have seemed unlikely as recently as 2021 when BHP scrapped a dual-listing structure and abandoned its London listing in favour of Sydney.
The valuation of Commonwealth Bank shares received scrutiny last month when veteran hedge fund manager Philip King said he had amassed a short position in the shares, citing one of the world’s most expensive valuations. King, the chief investment officer at Regal Funds Management, said he expects the lender’s earnings-per-share to decline in coming years amid mounting competition.
The nation’s banks have defied analysts who have widely expected a drop in earnings as a result of fierce mortgage competition. Instead, they have been buoyed by higher borrowing costs and an absence of economic shocks thanks to an ultra-low unemployment rate.
Just one of the 13 banking analysts tracked by Bloomberg that cover Commonwealth Bank have a hold rating on the stock, while the rest have “underweight” or “sell” recommendations, the data shows. BLOOMBERG
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