The chaos of reporting season makes a good case against markets being efficient. It will take weeks, if not months, to fully parse the recent data download of many hundreds of reports, and to also process views gleamed from the ensuing company roadshows. Reporting season can thus generate a long... Show More
Ramsay's result showed that private hospital operators continue to work in a challenging environment where top-line growth is moderating significantly whilst cost pressures continue to mount. Sales growth in RHC’s Australian operations moderated to 4.3% year-on-year, whilst the French and UK operations went backwards. At the same time the quality... Show More
The iSignthis Ltd (ASX:ISX) half yearly report that was released to the market today looks to be full of positive surprises, and further confirms the view that ISX is one of the most exciting globally focussed, emerging IT companies listed on the ASX. Show More
As a longtime observer and investor in mining companies, there are a number of key attributes I like them to exhibit. Iluka (ASX:ILU) fortunately displays these attributes in spades, which helps explain why it has outperformed the ASX200 accumulation index by +45% over the past year compared to BHP and... Show More
There is an esteemed group of companies on the ASX, such as CSL and Macquarie, where investors give management the benefit of the doubt. They trust that short-term issues can be overcome, and that future earnings guidance will not only be met, but may even be exceeded. Once upon a... Show More
The key information in today's result from Afterpay is the remarkable growth numbers. The velocity of this growth is evident when you compare the numbers in this result to just 12 months ago. Show More
Much of the market seemed to be spooked by the material drop in profitability vs the pcp. This shouldn’t have been unexpected and the key metrics of Revenue, EBITDA and NPAT were all basically in-line or ahead of both our forecasts and consensus – from that point of view it... Show More
Whilst abnormal losses flagged in the first half pulled the statutory profit into the red, Santos’s core Net profit after tax (NPAT) at US$336m was 5% ahead of our forecast of US$323m. It was also above January analyst consensus forecasts, but these were subsequently revised upwards to US$348m leading into... Show More
The acceleration of growth in China for A2’s infant milk formula products is very impressive. They now have just over 5% market share of the Chinese infant formula market. Remember the total Chinese infant milk formula market is approximately $20bn in size, with a number of incumbents sitting around the... Show More
BHP reported its financial results for the first half of the 2018 financial year this afternoon. Underlying earnings were marginally disappointing mainly because of operational and geotechnical issues at the Broadmeadow and Blackwater coal mines. Before the result, BHP had flagged lower volumes and higher costs in the coal division.... Show More
Western Areas (WSA) is a company we follow pretty closely, and although we don’t hold it at this point in time, we are keen on the stock, given the positive underlying trends likely to play out in the Nickel market over the coming years. They released 1H18 results that looked... Show More
Starting with quality of the earnings, the data was encouraging. Revenue growth continues to be strong reflecting the recovery in the mining cycle. More encouraging was the expansion in EBITDA margins (from 16.5% to 19.2%) and this was despite the disclosure of an additional $5 million invested in technology development... Show More
The most important piece of information in this report is this: Telstra’s mobile business is under pressure. Postpaid ARPU (including mobile repayment options) decreased 3.6% due to higher data inclusions. This is the 5th consecutive half of postpaid ARPU decline with an acceleration in the rate of decline. Show More
Through reporting season, Livewire's contributors are providing exclusive insights on February results for some popular stocks. In this wire, Scott Shuttleworth from Montgomery Investment Management looks at the CSL result, to pull out some key points and identify something the market is overlooking. Show More
On the positive side of the ledger, net book growth in the Life Business was strong at 7.9%, before the AMP and Japanese distribution relationships fully kicked in and before the BT relationship planned for June this year has started. The Funds Management business was strong across the board. Show More
The most important data in the report was that margins didn’t expand as much as the “Whisper number” thought they would. Firstly, what is the “whisper number?” Most readers will be aware of what is called “the street's expectation” – which is the forecasts that the sell side brokerage houses... Show More
