Noble won't be affected by sliding commodity prices

While commodity prices continue to slide, analysts believe Noble won't be affected. "Lower commodity prices will ease working capital requirements on the group. Noble's focus remains on volume growth, and on this note, management is confident that the demand for commodities will remain robust," says OCBC, which has Buy call with $2.99 fair value. "We think that (commodities) demand could moderate in light of slower growth from China. However, the inability of the commodity industries to supply the already reduced demand means that markets could remain tight for Noble," says Citigroup, which retains Buy call, $2.92 target. 2Q08 net profit +2.2X on-year at US$122.5 m on strong improvement across all business segments.