Investment is happening in other commodities too. With the gold price hovering around record levels in AUD terms, gold producers are focused on expansion plans to produce as many ounces as possible. The forecast demand for battery materials has seen the restart of the Ravensthorpe and Savannah nickel mines, in addition to the planned restart of Odysseus by Western Areas and Cassini by Mincor. There is also the potential for gas investment to restart in WA in a few years’ time as new discoveries in the North West Shelf and the Perth Basin are attracting considerable interest.

Miners are now more rational and it’s extremely unlikely we will return to the boom times at the start of the previous decade. However, with higher commodity prices the focus inevitably turns more to production levels than costs and this should be good for mining service providers’ margins. This is particularly the case in an environment of tightening labour and equipment availability – we are hearing the consistent message from mining companies that they are struggling to attract skilled labour, and a recent chart from Emeco shows the mining fleet in Australia hasn’t increased in five years despite a rapid rise in production of bulk commodities.

Source: Emeco investor presentation released to the ASX on 19/09/2019

The mining services investment landscape

There has been somewhat of a shakeout in the ASX listed mining services space over recent years as M&A activity (Broadspectrum, UGL, Sedgman, Pacific Energy) and bankruptcies (RCR Tomlinson, Briety) along with few new IPOs have contributed to a smaller pool of stocks than previously, especially at the larger and more liquid end of the small cap market.

Despite this, the available stocks mostly offer investors exposure to the desired commodities at the current point in time, as shown below:

Source: AMP Capital estimates and FY19 results disclosure

After a tough few years at the bottom of the cycle in FY15-17 revenue and earnings for the seven small cap pure play mining services stocks listed above have bounced back strongly. Aggregate revenue and EBITDA have doubled in the past few years, and NPAT is up more than five times. There are a number of other stocks exposed to the sector (including Seven Group, Mineral Resources and Codan), however these businesses have other divisions so we have chosen to focus on the pure play mining services stocks in this article.

Source: AMP Capital, Factset , January 2020

Consensus forecasts for FY20 and FY21 have earnings growth of 11% and 14% respectively, a level which appears reasonable in aggregate, but our forecasts do vary at the stock level. We believe the upcoming reporting season will be challenging for companies exposed to the construction cycle, as contract awards have been delayed and a number of these stocks will require a stronger second half of FY20 to meet consensus numbers. Our earnings focused investment process has us interested in stocks that are likely to at least meet, or even beat, consensus earnings estimates.

Valuations look reasonable

When analysing valuations of this group of stocks on an EV/EBITDA basis using forecast earnings, it becomes apparent that there have been significant fluctuations in valuation on a stock by stock basis, but on average the group has remained relatively flat in the 5-6x EBITDA range over the past two years.

Source: AMP Capital, Factset , January 2020 - *Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future performance

Mining services stocks deserve to trade at a discount to the broader market, given their inherent cyclical nature, earnings volatility, high capital intensity and competitive industry structure. This discount will expand and contract over time depending on industry conditions, from 25% at the peak of the boom to over 70% at the bottom of the bust. It’s currently sitting at around 40%, a level that is close to the average over the past 10 years and offers some upside given industry conditions are becoming more favourable. Individual stocks trade in a wide range around this discount and this range has increased in recent years, allowing opportunities for active managers.

Source: AMP Capital, Factset, January 2020 - *Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future performance

Macmahon Holdings (MAH): Well Positioned

Macmahon is a company that we have held in the fund for a number of years that fits our investment process. The company has had a challenging few years; with a failed takeover bid by CIMIC, a class action, board changes and a problem contract all resulting in the stock consistently trading at the lowest EV/EBITDA multiple relative to peers. While issues such as these are an ever present risk in the sector and may recur at some point in the future, in our view they have all been resolved for now. These issues have also masked the good progress that we believe CEO Mick Finnegan has made over the past 3 years in building a culture around safety and engagement, winning work with tier 1 clients to underwrite a solid order book, and expanding the company’s offering through bolt on acquisitions. We have visited mine sites where Macmahon does work and the feedback from clients has been universally positive to date.

The market will be able to view Macmahon with a clean slate at the upcoming results, and we see FY20 earnings guidance as achievable which may cause investors to question the discount in valuation relative to peers including NRW Holdings, Perenti Group and MACA. There is potential for 3 contract extensions and expansions in 2020 from existing jobs at Tropicana, Batu Hijau and Byerwen, which would materially grow the order book and provide the market with 5 years of forward revenue visibility. 

A word of caution

Mining services stocks are very volatile. We’ve come to expect that, each year, a few of these stocks will run into problems. This can come down to a lack of work, a problem contract, or a stressed balance sheet. In our view, investors should diversify their exposure in this sector and keep a close eye on order books, cashflow and any contracts which may cause an issue.