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JP Morgan downgrades UOB on Jan 23 after Jan 9 and Nov 2025 upgrades

The Edge Singapore
The Edge Singapore  • 2 min read
JP Morgan downgrades UOB on Jan 23 after Jan 9 and Nov 2025 upgrades
JP Morgan downgrades UOB to underweight with an end-2026 price target of $34
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On Jan 23, JP Morgan downgraded United Overseas Bank after upgrading the bank first in November last year, and again on Jan 9. According to the US bank, as is indeed the case that, UOB has surged in the past week, up 13% year-to-date compared to 4%, 8% and 5% for DBS Group Holdings, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp and the Straits Times Index respectively.

The rally came on the back of expectations of q-o-q improvement in UOB’s 4Q2025 results following a $615 million charge to general provisions in 3Q2025. Additionally, Macquarie had a positive report on UOB and Morgan Stanley was reported to have upgraded the bank.

“We broadly concurred with the short-term view, which along with low valuations led us to upgrade the stock in November 2025. Yet, we do not see asset quality issues fully cleared in 4Q2025, even if the quarter appears closer to business as usual. Accordingly, we expect negative consensus revisions in 2026 (JPM is 4% below Street), leading to a derating of the stock,” the JP Morgan report says.

The key risks stem from Hong Kong and US commercial real estate as well as continued high credit costs in Thailand based on guidance from large Thai banks in recent weeks. In addition, JP Morgan believes liquidity could be tight in Indonesia. The rupiah has fallen against the greenback for instance.

“Our pecking order in the industry now is DBS (overweight), OCBC (neutral), UOB (underweight),” JP Morgan says, with an end 2026 price target of $34.

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