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In today’s daily we have covered stock research on Flight Centre (HOLD) & Worley Parsons (BUY).
The S&P 500 was down by 15.62 points or 0.74% to 2108.58 on Wednesday. U.S. stocks closed lower on Wednesday, dropping in a broad decline as the outcome of negotiations between Greece and its international creditors remained up in the air, prompting investors to drop riskier assets like equities. Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras recently announced tax and reforms proposals, which market participants took as a sign of progress. But creditors demanded sweeping changes to the proposals on Wednesday, adding fresh uncertainty to talks aimed at unlocking aid to avert a debt default next week.
Monsanto fell 5.7 percent to $106.32 as the S&P's biggest percentage decliner after the seed company said it would still pursue an acquisition of Swiss rival Syngenta even as it warned of market challenges ahead. Netflix dipped 0.4 percent to $678.61 after investor Carl Icahn said his firm had sold the remainder of its stake in the company. Lennar rose 4.2 percent to $51.06. The second-largest U.S. homebuilder reported a better-than-expected 33 percent jump in quarterly profit as it sold more homes at higher prices.
Monsanto Daily Chart (Source - Thomson Reuters)
S&P ASX 200 was up by 2.50 points or 0.04% on Wednesday and closed at 5686.80 points. Most of the banks enjoyed good gains, with ANZ firming 0.6 per cent to $33.64, Commonwealth Bankgaining 0.5 per cent to $87.19 and National Australia Bank up 0.3 per cent to $34.52. Westpaclost 0.1 per cent to $33.67. Among other blue-chip stocks, BHP lost 0.2 per cent to $28.55 and RioTinto shed 1.2 per cent to $55.67. Telstra added 1 per cent to $6.34.
Flight Centre, which shocked the market with a profit warning on Tuesday, continued to plummet and dived 8.8 per cent to $34.21. Seek shares continued to fall after a earnings downgrade this week to its learning division, and shed 3.1 per cent to $14.08. Slater and Gordon lost 5.5 per cent to $6.13 after news that the Australian Securities and Investment Commission would examine the legal firm's long-standing relationship with auditor Pitcher Partners.
Slater & Gordon Daily Chart (Source - Thomson Reuters)
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Flight Centre (HOLD)
Flight Centre Travel Group Ltd (ASX:FLT), on Tuesday, lowered its guidance for the second-quarter to $355-$365 million from the previous guidance of $360 to $390 million primarily due to the weakness in the local market. Following the news, its shares nosedived almost 14%, compared to a gain of 1.3% for the benchmark S&P/ASX 200.
The condition is not specific to the company but overall Australian economy is kind of hanging in balance, facing an unspecified economic outlook, on the back of dropping mining boom, with efforts from the central bank to drive growth in other parts of the economy including tourism, by cutting interest rates to record lows.
FLT noted that a lower guidance is partly due to the discounts offered to attract the budget conscious leisure travelers. Further, higher wage cost and continued investments in marketing and other systems also accounted for lower margins. However, on Tuesday, FLT noted that for its flagship Flight Centre brand, gross margins are recovering, and are now near the similar levels as last year.
Though a lower guidance is disappointing, still there are a lot of positives in the company that cannot be ignored by the investors. Even though the pace of growth is sluggish in Australia, FLT’s International business is growing strongly. From competition point of view as well, FLT has an edge, fueled by brand awareness and large network. Also, along with announcing a lower guidance, FLT noted that it would register a “solid growth" in its overseas operations. On Tuesday, FLT noted that signs of a recovery in the second half of the year, adding that the market, overall, is returning to a modest growth after a flat first half. Click Here to read the complete report.
Results Summary (Source - Company Reports)
Worley Parsons (BUY)
Trading update for YTD March
The period saw a moderate decline in revenues though margins continue to be maintained. Aggregated revenues came to $ 5.32 billion, a decline of 5% over the previous period and the underlying EBIT was $ 251.3 million, down 4.7% over the previous period. EBIT margin was maintained at 4.7%. The underlying NPAT at $ 139.9 million was down by 3.3% over the previous year though NPAT margin was also maintained at 2.6%.
Aggregated revenues for the third quarter amounted to $ 1.7 billion down 5.7% over the previous year. The underlying EBIT at $ 70.5 million was down 17.5% over the previous year and the underlying EBIT margin at 4.1% was down 0.6% over the previous year. The underlying NPAT of $ 35.6 million declined by 18.9% over the previous year while the underlying NPAT margin at 2.1% was down by 0.3% over the previous year. Because of the decline in margins in the third quarter, the company has taken the necessary action to make the appropriate adjustments to the business.Click Here To read the complete report.
Global Headcount (Source - Company Reports)
Level 13 167 Macquarie Street
Sydney NSW 2000 Australia
E-Mail - [email protected]
Phone - 02 8667 3147
Note - You can also view this daily in the special reports section.