astro malaysia holdings bhd shares fall early tuesday after it posted weak earnings and analysts downgraded their views on the company citing a softer economic outlook and weakening consumer sentiment the satellite television providers stock fell as much as 61 to 062 ringgit us014 in morning trade bringing 12month losses above 41 the declines come after astro malaysia posted fourthquarter results late monday showing that net profit fell to myr5475 million from myr12659 million a year earlier it attributed the drop mainly due to lower revenue and higher costs quarterly revenue fell 39 to myr99067 million and the malaysian company said it continues to have a cautious outlook due to macroeconomic headwinds the shareprice drop also comes as analysts cut their ratings and forecasts for astro hong leong investment bank analyst tan je jyne downgraded astros stock to hold from buy and cut the target price to myr059 from myr095 in a note on tuesday he said that uncertainty in the global economy will likely hurt consumer and advertiser confidence weighing on demand for the companys products against this backdrop it is unclear whether astro will be able to bolster demand for its products quickly enough to shore up earnings particularly in the face of rising inflationary pressures he said it might take a while before astro sees any meaningful improvement in its subsequent earnings he said affin hwang investment bank analyst nadia aquidah also said in a note that she expects market uncertainty to weigh on households and businesses and by extension on astros earnings affin hwang cut astros fiscal 2024 and 2025 core earningspershare forecasts by 8 and 15 respectively given the disappointing quarterly results and lowered the stocks target price to myr055 from myr060 it maintained a sell rating on the stock one thing astro plans to do to retain customers is embark on a reinvestment strategy to switch more of its paytv subscribers to its new settop boxes maybank investment bank analyst yin shao yang said in a note however that shift will raise customeracquisition costs and compress margins prompting the brokerage to cut its fiscal 2024 and 2025 earnings estimates for the company by 23 and 31 respectively maybank investment bank also lowered its target price on astro stock to myr065 from myr074 and maintained a hold rating