Analysts believe that the local shipping industry remains under-researched and generally overlooked by investors.

This was among the highlights from Kenanga Investment Bank Bhd's research division (Kenanga Research) recent Shipping and Logistics Conference whereby six companies participated, including Sarawak's Sealink International Bhd (Sealink), Shin Yang Shopping Corporation Bhd (Shin Yang Shipping) and Bintulu Port Holdings Bhd (Bintulu Port).

The event gave the investment community a better picture of the under-appreciated logistics and shipping industry as a whole.

"Post-conference, we gather a better understanding of the logistics industry in Malaysia and we generally feel that the logistics industry in Malaysia is under-appreciated by the investment community compared to other sectors," Kenanga Research said yesterday.

"Apart from wellknown names such as MISC Bhd (MISC) and Malaysian Bulk Carriers Bhd (Maybulk), we noticed that there are many smaller but good logistics companies, which focus on more resilient sub-segments like freight-forwarding, warehousing and other value-added logistics services, which are not as capital-intensive as shipping companies.

"Sealink, for example, is seen to be conservatively valued at 8.8x forward PER on FY15 EPS. We arrived at a fair value with ranging 55 to 66sen using price earnings ratio (PER) with a range of 10 to 12 times.

"Overall, we are positive on this company and investors should keep this company under their radar as the worst is almost over and the company is moving in the right direction by focusing on deepwater vessel technology," it said.

Shin Yang Shipping also appears to be attractively valued at 0.5 times trailing price to book value (PBV), which is considerably low given its large cap peers trade in excess of one time its PBV.

The company has several joint ventures in the Middle East to penetrate the Middle Eastern market which mainly involves offshore marine logistics and it expects the contribution to increase in the future. The group is planning to expand its shipbuilding capacity by building a new shipbuilding yard at Tanjung Manis with an estimated area of 214 acres.

Port operator Bintulu Port also has Kenanga Research maintaining a positive view on them as Samalaju Industrial Port has already secured investors who will utilise about 23 per cent of the port's handling capacity at full swing.

"However, we believe that the near-term earnings impact will not be substantial given the long gestation period for greenfield port business."

For the sector as a whole, Kenanga Research reiterated its neutral call despite the positive tone as the firm believed the recovery in the sector is only for certain sub-segments.

Kenanga Research believed volatility in the shipping sector will continue although better charter rates are expected for the year.