RESEARCH ALERT-CIMB upgrades Tiger Airways to trading buy

SINGAPORE Jan 25 (Reuters) - CIMB Research upgraded Singapore budget carrier Tiger Airways Holdings Ltd to "trading buy" from underperform and raised its target price to S$0.87 from S$0.50.

By 0128 GMT, shares of Tiger Airways were 0.72 percent higher at S$0.695. They have plunged by about 59 percent since the start of last year.

CIMB said a trading buy recommendation means it expects the stock to rise by more than 5 percent over the next three months. A regular "outperform" call on the other hand takes a 12 month view on the stock.

STATEMENT:

CIMB has upgraded Tiger Airways as it expects quarterly losses to narrow, with the airline becoming profitable in the fiscal year ending March 2014.

Tiger Airways could benefit from a speedy recovery in its Australian operations this year, as well as better load factors and yields in Singapore, CIMB said in a report.

The budget carrier's fleet utilisation in Australia has been improving since the lifting of a one-and-a-half month suspension in mid-August, CIMB said. (Reporting by Charmian Kok; Editing by Kevin Lim)