Israel stocks off; ICL's bromine potential in view
11:26 am ET 04/22/2010- MarketWatch Databased News
TEL AVIV (MarketWatch) -- Israeli stocks fell on Thursday, led by weakness in Israel Chemicals and telecom carrier Bezeq, while banking shares advanced.
The Tel Aviv Stock Exchange's benchmark TA-25 Index declined 0.7% to 1,199.63, marking the benchmark's first close below the 1,200 mark since March 9, while the TA-100 Index lost 0.5% to 1,129.71.
The Tel-Tech 15 Index of top technology issues also eased, off 0.3% to 275.49.
The most-active issue was Israel Chemicals, trading down 0.4%.
UBS analyst Roni Biron wrote a report suggesting that while it's "typically tagged as a potash company," Israel Chemicals may actually have "higher growth potential in the coming years" from its bromine business.
The company's industrial-products division "can boost its revenue from $1 billion to $1.5 billion by 2015, with earnings before interest and taxes of $300 million" -- fully 15 times the $20 million of 2009, the analyst wrote.
"Both Albemarle and Chemtura have hiked the prices of their brominated products over the past month on the back of stronger demand for flame retardants," Biron wrote. "Given the three-player structure of the market, we believe ICL raised prices accordingly."
For now, the analyst affirmed his neutral rating on the stock with a price target of 50 shekels ($13.38); Israel Chemicals trades at 46 shekels. That's because "potash price/volumes expectations are fairly priced in."
Agrichemicals specialist Makhteshim-Agan shares fell 1.2%.
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