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In today’s daily we have covered stock research on G8 Education (BUY).
The S&P 500 was up by 25.71 points or 1.26% on Thursday and closed at 2065.95 points. TheFTSE Eurofirst 300 equity index managed only a fractional advance following Wednesday’s 1.5 per cent jump, while the Xetra Dax in Frankfurt slipped back from a record high. Retail sales fell 0.6% in February, marking the third month in a row of declining sales, the Commerce Department said Thursday. The only sector in the red for the day was the energy sector, with energy companies in the S&P 500 falling 0.4%. The sector fell along with the price of crude-oil, which declined 2.3% to $47.05 a barrel. Banking shares rallied in the wake of the Federal Reserve's annual check-up on the industry's health.
In corporate news, Dow component United Technologies Corp. said it would explore strategic alternatives for its Sikorsky Aircraft business, which is known for its Black Hawk helicopters. Shares rose 2.4%. Volatility also tempered, with the CBOE's VIX index, a measure of expected moves in the S&P 500 over the coming month, falling 9 per cent to 15.32. Intel Corp. cut its revenue outlook for the current quarter, blaming weaker-than-expected demand for business desktop computers and lower inventory levels across its personal computer supply chain. Shares fell 5%.
Intel Daily Chart (Source - Thomson Reuters)
S&P ASX 200 was up by 57.0 points or 0.98% on Thursday and closed at 5850.2 points. The big four lenders all finished higher, with ANZ Banking Group climbing 1.2 per cent to $35.64,Commonwealth Bank of Australia up 1.4 per cent to $91.82, National Australia Bank lifting 1.2 per cent to $38.00 and Westpac jumping 1.6 per cent to $38.09. BHP was down slightly after Wednesday's ex-dividend sell-off.
Online classifieds giant Carsales.com and its majority-owned Stratton Finance are taking a $10 million equity stake in peer-to-peer RateSetter, in a deal intended to expand the "disruptive" form of lending to car buyers. Whitehaven Coal has bought itself some headroom amid heavily depressed coal prices by striking a deal to refinance $1.4 billion in debt. The unemployment rate eased to 6.3 per cent from 6.4 per cent in February. The Australian dollar is trading at US76.81¢ at 5.59am AEDT, compared with Thursday’s local close of US76.20¢. The Aussie reached as high as US77.32¢ in early New York trade.
The following stocks will trade ex dividend today:
Adelaide Brighton, Cash Converters, Cryosite, Data#3, Desane Group, Fantastic Holdings, Grange Resources, Nuplex Industries, Reece Australia, Service Stream, Spotless Group, Tassal.
Whitehaven Coal Daily Chart (Source – Thomson Reuters)
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Stock Of the Day - G8 Education (BUY)
G8 Education (GEM) provided its full year results (12 months ended Dec ‘14) with a 70% surge in its net profit after tax to $52.7 million given the aggressive network expansion from 203 to 455 centres. This was broadly in line with expectation. The Company reported revenue increase of 79% to $491.3 million in comparison to the market expectation of $510 million. GEM is known to pay the dividends per quarter and has paid total dividends of 19 cents per share over the last year. GEM conveyed earlier about whipping the consensus on underlying earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) of $101 million by less than 5% and could achieve underlying EBIT increase of 101% to $101.5 million. However, the underlying EBIT was at the bottom of the guidance range of $101 million - $106 million. 21% improvement in EBIT margin from 18.4% in 2013 has been the highlight. This is owing to the factors including 85% of average occupancy across 455 centres and a 25% to 19% plummet in yearly staff turnover in a span of two years as at 2014. The Company spent a record $468 million on 203 new centres in 2014 but does not appear to slow down from further roll-up. It is to be noted that the result has been supported by acquisitions and solid organic growth (9% Like-for-like EBIT growth).
Group Centre Portfolio (Source – Company Reports)
GEM recently revealed about an added stream of earnings from the Company’s plan of buying another 12 childcare centres under a deal for $36 million including $6 million in earn-out payments. The purchase price is said to be four times the expected earnings before interest and tax for the 12 months post settlement, indicative of a significant achievement for the acquisition strategy with centres contributing to EBIT straightaway upon settlement. This will increase the total Australian portfolio reach to 34,270 places per day. The acquisitions are expected to settle before the end of June 2015, subject to certain conditions.
Underlying Margin Performance (Source – Company Reports)
A lot of talk is going on about the childcare funding refurbishment plan by the Productivity Commission. Primarily, the Productivity Commission has suggested to have a single subsidy called the Early Care and Learning Subsidy (ECLS) emanating from the coalition of three subsidies to families for child care costs, namely, the Child Care Rebate (CCR), Child Care Benefit (CCB) and Jobs, Education and Training Child Care Fee Assistance (JETCCFA). The ECLS would be characteristic of means tested with a subsidy rate from 85% for families with income less than $60,000 per annum to 20% for families with income greater than $250,000 per annum. The Commission has also recommended for setting a proposal for the benchmark at the median cost of a childcare place of about $75 for a 10-hour day for a child having an age over 36 months in long day care in the current year. GEM expressed that the recommendations appear to be good for the childcare sector. Specifically, the Company stated that the benchmark price seems to be in consensus with what GEM already charges. Accordingly, GEM conveyed that most of its clients would not be facing any brunt. It is further estimated that there will be a 3.1% growth in demand for child care services which will benefit the Company to some extent.
It has also been understood that the Company has the capability and capacity to fund 75 childcare centre acquisitions a year in support from available cash, cashflow generation and an underwritten dividend reinvestment plan.
Services (Source – Company Reports)
Short-term negative sentiments are appearing with regards to questions on GEM’s knack for consolidating the childcare industry as done earlier. However, GEM believes that its acquisitive nature may help the Company deliver well like the earlier times. The current weakness in share price looks to prevail in the interim, however, we reiterate that GEM’s potential is backed by strong EPS growth, condensed regulatory issues and efficient management. Although, the Company did not provide specific commentary for CY15 guidance, the overall stance appears to be positive.
GEM Daily Chart (Source - Thomson Reuters)
We thus put a BUY recommendation for this stock at the current price of $3.80.
Team Kalkine
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Sydney NSW 2000 Australia
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Phone - 02 8667 3147
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