In today’s daily we have covered stock research on Toll Holdings. To view Top 25 Dividend Stocks as per their yield click here

S&P 500 was up by 8.90 points or 0.48% to 1878.33 on Tuesday. S&P 500 rose on Tuesday, boosted by upbeat earnings from companies including Merck & Co and a rebound in Facebook and other high-growth shares.

Yahoo! Inc. and TripAdvisor Inc. jumped at least 4.6 percent to pace gains in Internet shares. Further deal activity on the healthcare front also lifted the market. Britain's Reckitt Benckiser Group Plc confirmed talks to buy Merck's consumer health business, the latest asset up for grabs in a wave of recent pharmaceutical deals. Twitter Inc. climbed 4.6 percent to $42.62 during regular trading. After the market close, the shares lost 8.7 percent after the microblogging service said membership in the first quarter reached 255 million, with user growth slowing to 25 percent from 30 percent in the previous period.



S&P 500 Daily Chart   (Source – Thomson Reuters)
 
S&P ASX 200 was down by 49.5 points or 0.89% on Tuesday and closed at 5486.6 points. G8 Education which has been the best performing stock in ASX 200 held their annual general meeting in Gold Coast on Tuesday , where almost one in five investors in the stock voted against the remuneration report. Wesfarmers total retail sales rose 4.4% to $12.7 billion in the three months ending March. Strong sales at Bunnings and Coles were offset by soft liquor sales and decline of sales at Target.

The Australian dollar is buying around US92.6c is about 13c below its 2013 high, but still a long way off its historical average of US70c.



S&P ASX 200 Daily Chart (Source – Thomson Reuters)

The top gainers on ASX 200 were:- 



Stock of the Day – Toll Holdings (TOL)
 
Toll holdings is a major supplier of transport (road, rail, air and sea), freight forwarding and third party logistics services, primarily operating in Australian, New Zealand and Asian Market. Toll’s aim is to be the main provider of integrated logistics solutions across diversified markets in the Australasian region. Toll has six operating divisions: Toll Global Express, Toll Global Forwarding, Toll Global Resources, Toll Global Logistics, Toll specialized & Domestic Freight, and Toll Domestic Forwarding.
 
Toll’s scale, network and market share in the domestic market provides barriers to entry and a solid base for regional expansion. The company’s Asian focused expansion strategy is well considered and should generate significant growth by leveraging existing expertise, resources and balance sheet strength. However Toll’s operations are highly leveraged to domestic and international economic conditions.



Source - Toll

Significant exposure to the domestic retail, fast moving consumer goods, industrial, automotive and resources sectors results in earnings volatility, with weak economic conditions in eastern Australia weighing on earnings. Toll holdings announced a sound first half fiscal 2014 result despite difficult conditions with flat revenue at AUD 4.5 billion, earnings before interest and tax or EBIT up 1% to AUD 259 million and net profit after tax or NPAT up 1% to AUD 176 Million


Toll Daily Chart  (Source - Thomson Reuters)

Despite a highly developed domestic network and integrated logistics offering, Toll has not been able to establish meaningful competitive advantages, because of low barriers to entry and it operating in markets which are cyclical and highly fragmented. Toll’s domestic transport operations saw margin deterioration during the half as a result of aggressive competition, weak discretionary retail conditions and a slowdown in mining services activity. We believe the stock is slightly overvalued at its current price and would review the stock at a later date.

  

---

Disclaimer
The advice given by Kalkine Pty Ltd and provided on this website is general information only and it does not take into account your investment objectives, financial situation or needs. You should therefore consider whether the advice is appropriate to your investment objectives, financial situation and needs before acting upon it. You should seek advice from a financial adviser, stockbroker or other professional (including taxation and legal advice) as necessary before acting on any advice. Not all investments are appropriate for all people.
Kalkine.com.au and associated pages are published by Kalkine Pty Ltd ABN 34 154 808 312 (Australian Financial Services License Number 425376).
The information on this website has been prepared from a wide variety of sources, which Kalkine Pty Ltd, to the best of its knowledge and belief, considers accurate. You should make your own enquiries about any investments and we strongly suggest you seek advice before acting upon any recommendation.
Kalkine Pty Ltd has made every effort to ensure the reliability of information contained in its newsletters and websites. All information represents our views at the date of publication and may change without notice. To the extent permitted by law, Kalkine Pty Ltd excludes all liability for any loss or damage arising from the use of this website and any information published (including any indirect or consequential loss, any data loss or data corruption). If the law prohibits this exclusion, Kalkine Pty Ltd hereby limits its liability, to the extent permitted by law to the resupply of services. There may be a product disclosure statement or other offer document for the securities and financial products we write about in Kalkine Reports. You should obtain a copy of the product disclosure statement or offer document before making any decision about whether to acquire the security or product.
The link to our Terms & Conditions has been provided please go through them and also have a read of the Financial Services Guide.