This article first appeared in Capital, The Edge Malaysia Weekly on December 29, 2025 - January 4, 2026
THE 20th edition of The Edge Best Call Awards received 93 nominations for 71 stocks covered by analysts from 18 research outfits.
That is fewer than the 135 nominations for 96 stocks from 17 research outfits last year — not surprising, with year-on-year gains on the benchmark FBM KLCI at only 1.4% as at Dec 19, 2025, compared with 12.9% in 2024. The broader FBM Emas Index was down 2.8% y-o-y as at Dec 19, 2025, compared with a 16.3% y-o-y gain in 2024.
The number of nominations was still higher than in 2021, 2022 and 2023 when the FBM KLCI ended the year lower.
We did not have a long list this year, with only 17 calls making the shortlist. Kenanga Investment Bank Research analyst Wan Mustaqim Wan Ab Aziz’s call on Hong Leong Industries Bhd (KL:HLIND) was among the 17 shortlisted but was dropped from the final selection as the call had been recognised last year.
Market capitalisation, free float, the number of research coverage and whether there is a concurrent deal by the investment bank are among the factors taken into consideration in arriving at our final 10.
We prefer a clear “buy” or “sell” to “hold” calls, especially if they are contrarian. If any company bans you from briefings for calling a “sell” based on sound analysis, please drop an email to [email protected].
Started in 2005 (we skipped one year in 2014 but brought it back by popular demand), the award is our attempt to recognise sound fundamental research and analysis plus actual share price performance instead of relying purely on fund managers’ votes. Thank you for your interest. We will be welcoming submissions again from November 2026. Do look out for advertisements in The Edge Malaysia and our sister publication The CEO Morning Brief.
In no particular order, here are the 10 winning calls for 2025 selected based on submissions and data available to us.
Congratulations to all winners. To the unsung stock pickers, keep up the good work! May you make more prescient calls and interesting stock discoveries in 2026. Happy New Year!
TA Securities Investment Research analyst Hafriz Hezry Harihodin’s ‘buy’ call on Ranhill Utilities Bhd and ‘sell’ call on YTL Power International Bhd
On hindsight, he was about one month early in upgrading Ranhill Utilities Bhd (KL:RANHILL), which had just reported weaker-than-expected results for a 15-month period, following a fiscal year change from June to December, on continued cost overruns at its consultancy and services division.
But when TA Securities Investment Research analyst Hafriz Hezry Harihodin upgraded his recommendation on Ranhill Utilities from “sell” to “buy” on May 20 this year and increased his sum-of-the-parts-derived target price to RM1.40 (from RM1.05), he did so despite trimming FY2026 earnings forecasts by 1% to adjust for further overruns. The reason: The risk premium for Ranhill Utilities’ 80%-owned Ranhill SAJ had been reduced on the back of a more favourable regulatory environment that was more receptive to tariff increases and which better reflected industry capital expenditure requirements.
Revenue recovered in the following quarter, more so with a water tariff hike effective Aug 1 for Ranhill SAJ, the primary water operator in Johor where investors were eyeing data centre-related plays. Ranhill Utilities’ share price also gained 65% in about four months, from RM1.24 on May 20 to RM2.05 on Oct 2, before trending lower.
A special mention to RHB Research’s Adam Mohamed Rahim, who was the first to upgrade Ranhill Utilities with a RM1.37 target price on March 17 when the share price was at RM1.22, slightly lower than the RM1.24 when TA’s Hafriz upgraded his call two months later.
Data centres are huge water and electricity guzzlers. The latter brings us to YTL Power International Bhd (KL:YTLPOWR), which is developing a green data centre in Kulai, Johor, and had acquired control of Ranhill Utilities in mid-2024 after taking over a significant block from the latter’s founder, Tan Sri Hamdan Mohamad. Notably, in 2023, Hafriz (then with MIDF Research) was recognised for his coverage of YTL Corp Bhd (KL:YTL), which owns 46% of YTL Power.
This year, Hafriz is also recognised for his “sell” call on YTL Power on Aug 22 with a target price of RM4.13, one day after JP Morgan’s Sumedh Samant cut recommendations to “sell” with a RM3.30 target price.
“While we like YTL Power’s growth prospects from its new data centre venture and improving Wessex Water outlook, share price has run ahead of our target price and as such, we downgrade our call to ‘sell’ from ‘hold’. We also remain cautious on Power Seraya’s outlook — being predominantly YTL Power’s key earnings driver — given external trade uncertainties which could weigh on the Singapore economy and electricity demand, amid incoming new capacity into the market,” Hafriz wrote.
Both “sell” calls were against consensus at the time. There were 10 “buy” calls, two “hold” calls and a consensus target price at RM4.63, with the share price at RM4.28. From there, YTL Power shares fell 25% over 2½ months to as low as RM3.21 on Dec 11 before retracing some of the losses.
It remains to be seen if they will continue to be right, with the street still largely positive on the stock at the time of writing.
CIMB Investment Bank Research analyst Mohd Shanaz Noor Azam’s call on HI Mobility Bhd
Nominations for “buy” calls on an initial public offering (IPO) listing are usually dropped by the time we arrive at the final top 10 winners list. We made an exception for HI Mobility Bhd (KL:HI), which debuted on March 28 and is the best-performing Main Board listing to date in 2025.
Its share price was up 111.9% in about nine months as it closed at RM2.56 on Dec 19, giving the company a market capitalisation of RM1.28 billion. This despite the stock slipping 10.2% over two months from its peak of RM2.85 on Oct 14.
CIMB Investment Bank Research’s Mohd Shanaz Noor Azam was the first to initiate coverage on the company on July 17 for the IPO led by Maybank Investment Bank Bhd. Mohd Shanaz, who started with a RM2.05 target price, increased it to RM3.10 on Nov 17 this year. Interestingly, Mohd Shanaz had the only active coverage on the stock until early November, according to Bloomberg data.
In his initiation note headlined “Catch the HI-train”, Mohd Shanaz said the company — a long-standing public bus operator under its flagship brand Causeway Link, with a fleet of 150 cross-border buses and daily ridership of over 60,000 — was “a rare proxy for the booming Johor-Singapore corridor, underpinned by dominant cross-border operations and strong alignment with Malaysia’s public transport aspirations”. Rerating catalysts include rising cross-border traffic, merger and acquisition opportunities, potential introduction of dividend policy and feeder rollout of the Rapid Transit System (RTS) rail link that connects Singapore’s Woodlands station to the Bukit Chagar station in Johor Bahru.
Hong Leong Investment Bank analyst Sam Jun Kit’s call on MN Holdings Bhd
Investors looking for potential beneficiaries of Malaysia’s data centre boom would have paid attention when Sam Jun Kit of Hong Leong Investment Bank (HLIB) initiated coverage on MN Holdings Bhd (KL:MNHLDG) with a “buy” call on June 7, 2024, following a non-rated note. His was the only active coverage at the time.
“The group’s strong track record in serving Tenaga Nasional Bhd (KL:TENAGA), data centre owners and solar EPCC (engineering, procurement, construction and commissioning) contractors positions it as a strong contender for upcoming power infrastructure projects,” Sam wrote, telling clients that the company is “poised for multi-year growth”, riding Malaysia’s power infrastructure up cycle and the data centre wave. Tenaga plans to invest RM90 billion in Malaysia’s grid through 2030.
The share price of MN Holdings more than doubled from 90 sen at the point of initiation to RM1.97 on Oct 3 this year. While the counter has slipped 20% from its peak in the past two months, gains are still substantial for the stock whose market capitalisation was still above RM1 billion at the time of writing.
As the share price retraced, two more research houses started coverage on MN Holdings on Oct 15 and Nov 5, both with “buy” calls and with target prices of RM2.20 and RM2.27, according to Bloomberg data. Sam, last reiterated a “buy” call with a higher target price of RM2.23 on Dec 1.
Hong Leong Investment Bank analyst Tan Kai Shuen’s call on OSK Holdings Bhd
One of our winners in 2023 that made our shortlist but was dropped last year, we decided to again recognise this call as OSK Holdings Bhd (KL:OSK) continued to do well in 2025 — with the share price up 26.4% year to date (YTD) at the time of writing. Gains were even higher if measured from its lowest point in April.
Hong Leong Investment Bank (HLIB) analyst Tan Kai Shuen remains the only one actively covering the stock, according to Bloomberg data.
Not only does OSK Holdings benefit from dividend payments from its 10.27% stake in RHB Bank, HLIB’s Tan wrote in his July 29 note that investors continue to undervalue the group’s private credit segment. Specifically, he flagged the potential for a rerating for OSK Holdings once value is recognised on its private credit segment, which is seeing a strong growth trajectory but may have been overlooked by investors as the segment was previously deeply embedded within the parent company.
Citing valuations for Australian-listed Qualitas Ltd, which specialises in private credit investments in real estate, Tan said OSK Holdings “also has private credit exposure in Australia primarily in the real estate segment that makes up 28% of loan portfolio”, adding that OSK Holdings’ loan portfolio “has a more balanced and diversified mix” in terms of geography and across customer segments.
“Applying a comparable 24 times earnings multiple to OSK Holdings’ private credit segment FY2026 earnings per share implies a value of 97 sen per share, which is a staggering 76% of the group’s current market value, underscoring how significantly the segment is undervalued despite its strong growth trajectory,” Tan wrote when raising his target price for OSK Holdings to RM2.13 (from RM2), having applied a 20% discount on his revised sum-of-the-parts-derived valuation of RM2.66 (from RM2.50). “OSK Holdings’ stake in RHB alone accounts for 71% of its market cap, suggesting the market is undervaluing its other growing businesses,” Tan wrote on Nov 28 when reiterating his “buy” call following the company’s third-quarter earnings release.
Nomura Research analyst Raghavendra Divekar’s call on 99 Speed Mart Retail Holdings Bhd
Nomura Research’s Raghavendra Divekar was one of four analysts who started coverage on 99 Speed Mart Retail Holdings Bhd (KL:99SMART) with a “buy” call upon its debut on the Main Market on Sept 9, 2024, and among three analysts who continued to maintain that call at the time of writing.
We are surprised that only four research houses started coverage at the initial public offering by CIMB Investment Bank, given that 99 Speed Mart’s market capitalisation was nearly RM14 billion even at its IPO price of RM1.65.
In his note dated Oct 3, 2024, Raghavendra told clients that 99 Speed Mart was already the 27th largest stock on Bursa Malaysia following strong price appreciation and could be included in the FBM KLCI at the next semi-annual review if its share price moves above RM2.48 compared to RM2.28 then. The inclusion was confirmed within two months on Dec 5, 2024, which was just shy of three months from its listing date.
Special mention goes to UOB Kay Hian Research’s Philip Wong Ching Wern and Hong Leong Investment Bank’s Syifaa’ Mahsuri Ismail who also started coverage with a “buy” call at IPO and still have a “buy” call.
Incidentally, all three of them currently have price targets of RM3.80 — which happened to be the stock’s closing price on our cut-off date of Dec 19. That is also the highest close for the stock at the time of writing, giving it a market capitalisation of RM31.9 billion.
Consensus is still overwhelmingly positive for the stock, with 10 “buy” calls versus two “hold” calls and one “sell”. Only three target prices have not been exceeded, the highest being Macquarie’s RM3.95. If indeed the bellwether FBM KLCI is poised to move higher next year, stronger earnings would give reason for further upgrades.
AmInvestment Bank head of research Paul Yap Ee Xing’s call on Kelington Group Bhd
Someone with a crystal ball would have bought Kelington Group Bhd (KL:KGB) shares when they dipped to RM2.59 on April 9 this year. That purchase would have seen a 125.5% appreciation over six months, if measured against the stock’s year-to-date peak of RM5.84 on Oct 15. Even at its RM5.29 close on Dec 19, gains were still 104% over eight months.
There were already four other analysts calling a “buy” on the stock when AmInvestment Bank head of research Paul Yap Ee Xing initiated coverage to add another “buy” call on June 25 this year. His target price, however, was the highest at RM4.70 based on 21 times calendar year 2026 earnings — implying a 35% upside potential at the time. “Against consensus, our returns are driven by a 17% premium to FY2026 earnings. We assume a more aggressive success rate for its enlarged tender book, backed by its proven track record and strategic partnerships,” Yap wrote.
Others had price targets ranging from RM4.15 to RM4.63 back then, according to Bloomberg data.
From RM3.68 at the point of Yap’s initiation, Kelington shares rose close to 59% over four months before recalibrating.
As the stock gave up some of its gains, UBS’ Joseph Koh started coverage at “neutral” on Oct 21 with a target price of RM6.20. The first to cut to “neutral” was Berjaya Research analyst Jessie Chai on Oct 3, with a target price of RM6.03.
Yap had on Nov 26 revised his target price higher to RM6.45 while maintaining a “buy” recommendation. His target price, however, is just below Affin Hwang Investment Bank analyst Kevin Low’s RM6.65.
It remains to be seen which of these calls will prove prescient in the coming months.
Tradeview Research analyst Tan Jia Hui’s call on Oriental Kopi Holdings Bhd
Among the three analysts who started coverage on Oriental Kopi Holdings Bhd (KL:KOPI) with a “buy” call ahead of the company’s ACE Market debut on Jan 23 this year, Tradeview Research analyst Tan Jia Hui was not the most bullish.
However, as the share price began its enviable 240.4% ascent from 44 sen at initial public offering (IPO) to as high as RM1.498 on Oct 16, Tan held her “buy” call the longest. She also had the highest price target of RM1.27 as at Aug 27, Bloomberg data shows.
When Tan trimmed her recommendation from “buy” to “hold” on Nov 26 while maintaining that RM1.27 target price, Oriental Kopi’s share price closed at RM1.29. While the stock continued to gain 16% before giving up ground, we note that three other research houses already had “hold” recommendations since as early as February, May and August as the share price continued its ascent. Moreover, closing at RM1.34 on Dec 19, the share price is only 5.5% above Tan’s current target price of RM1.27, which is based on 30 times FY2026 earnings that she says is “aligned with the Bursa consumer index average” and reflects resilient sales momentum on strong brand appeal despite soft consumer sentiment as Oriental Kopi further expands in packaged food.
An IPO by Alliance Islamic Bank Bhd, Oriental Kopi’s market capitalisation of RM2.68 billion as it closed at RM1.34 on Dec 19 was still 204.5% above its listing price, putting it among companies with the strongest listing performance this year. Bloomberg also ranks Tan the highest among peers, with a one-year return of 195% at the time of writing.
Apex Securities Research analyst Tan Sue Wen’s call on Southern Cable Group Bhd
Kedah-based Southern Cable Group Bhd (KL:SCGBHD) had a three-decade track record in the manufacturing of cables and wires used in power distribution and communication services — plus at least a decade-old supplier relationship with a notable clientele that included Telekom Malaysia Bhd (KL:TM), Tenaga Nasional Bhd (KL:TENAGA), Petroliam Nasional Bhd, Sabah Electricity Sdn Bhd and Sarawak Energy Bhd — by the time Apex Securities Research analyst Tan Sue Wen initiated coverage on the stock with a “buy” recommendation and target price of RM1.08 on Nov 7, 2024.
At the time, the stock was trading at 88.5 sen, reflecting a market capitalisation of RM792.4 million. “Growth prospects are promising, driven by gradual ramp-up in capacity catering towards expansion into HV (high voltage) cables, which are essentially used for national grid upgrades and solar farms; fulfilling demand from KTMB (Keretapi Tanah Melayu Bhd), buoyed by upcoming national infrastructure development and ongoing efforts to gain market share in the US,” Tan wrote in a 13-page note that valued Southern Cable at 18 times FY2025 earnings when it was trading at 13.9 times FY2024 earnings.
In just over 10 months, the stock surged 172% to reach RM2.41 on Sept 25 this year, giving the company a market capitalisation of RM2.44 billion.
Acknowledging “guidance” from her head of research Ong Tze Hern, Tan was the first to start active coverage, according to Bloomberg data. Three other nominations that came in for the stock also mentioned this alongside coverage by Hong Leong Investment Bank analyst Sam Jun Kit, who noted a RM1.32 billion order book when initiating coverage on June 11, 2025 with a target price of RM1.69 when the share price had reached RM1.33. By this time, Tan’s target price had been raised to RM1.72. Both reiterated “buy” calls on Nov 26 but Sam’s target price is now higher at RM2.59 compared with Tan’s RM2.57.
Southern Cable’s share price dipped briefly below RM2 in late October but resumed its ascent to close at RM2.23 on Dec 19. On Nov 21, an additional offer of 102.38 million shares managed by RHB Investment Bank and UOB Trustee Malaysia were priced at RM1.99 each and raised RM203.73 million.
With the Employees Provident Fund holding a 6.06% stake, making it the second-largest shareholder, there is good reason to keep an eye on just how much further the counter can run and if more analysts will join Tan and Sam in tracking the stock.
Former MBSB Investment Bank Research analyst Eunice Ng Qing Rong’s call on Life Water Bhd
When Eunice Ng Qing Rong, then an analyst at MBSB Investment Bank Research, initiated coverage on Life Water Bhd (KL:LWSABAH) with a “buy” call and target price of RM1.04 on April 15, 2025, hers was effectively the only active coverage. That is given that TA Securities had a “non-rated” call while Mercury Securities had only issued a note saying “subscribe” for the initial public offering (IPO), valuing the stock at 84 sen on Oct 29, 2024, according to Bloomberg data.
While Life Water’s IPO at 65 sen on Nov 13, 2024 was handled by MIDF Amanah Investment Bank, we took into consideration that five months had passed when Ng started coverage. MIDF Research was rebranded MBSB Research on July 10, 2025, the same day MIDF Amanah Investment Bank was rebranded MBSB Investment Bank.
In the note titled “Hydrating a thirsty market with scale and strength”, Ng benchmarked the Sabah-based Life Water against Spritzer Bhd (KL:SPRITZER) and highlighted Life Water’s position as the leading bottled water brand in Sabah with K2 and 2more; its strategic expansion to double its output; its planned product portfolio expansion and the structural demand for clean water in Sabah. “The group commands an estimated 11% share of Malaysia’s bottled water market, making it one of the largest players nationally and the likely market leader in East Malaysia … Life Water’s entrenched market share, customer stickiness and brand visibility provides a solid foundation for sustained volume growth and margin sustainability,” she wrote.
In her 16-page initiation note, Ng also mentioned Life Water’s production ramp-up that will see its total annual capacity leap from 389 million litres to 804 million litres by FY2027, effectively doubling output in just three years. “The execution timeline is clear, the funding is secured via IPO proceeds and internal reserves, and the objective is unambiguous: to ensure Life Water is operationally ready to ride the next wave of volume-driven growth,” she added, noting that Life Water controls its own packaging, logistics and distribution channels.
By the time she dropped coverage on Nov 25, 2025 and left MBSB, Life Water’s share price had closed at RM1.21, which represents an increase of 51.3% in just over seven months from 80 sen at the point of initiation. The stock closed as high as RM1.53 on Dec 2 before retracing to RM1.40 on Dec 19, giving the company a market capitalisation of RM662.5 million.
Save by subscribing to us for your print and/or digital copy.
P/S: The Edge is also available on Apple's App Store and Android's Google Play.