VPB [BUY +42.5%] - Valuation upgrade has a lot of room to run - Update

We reiterate our BUY rating and raise our TP by 5.5% to VND58,000, offering a total upside of +42.5%. Improving NIMs, balance sheet growth and rationalization of credit costs can potentially drive material earnings (and valuation) upgrades in 2018F. Due to NIM expansion in 9M 2017, we forecast VPB’s NIM will be at 8.9% in 2017F, inching up 109 bps from 7.8% in 2016. We upgrade our 2017F net interest income by 1.2% to VND20.5 trillion/USD901 million (a 27% CAGR for 2016-2019F) supported by a