Computershare Ltd

CPU Details
Rise in 1H FY17 net profit: Computershare Ltd (ASX: CPU) reported its 1H FY17 results with total management revenue rising up 10.9% to $1,041.2 million in constant currency basis, while the net profit surged 78.2% to $150.15 million. CPU further reported that Management earnings per share jumped up 4.4% to 27.1 cents. The group intends to pay an interim partially (30%) franked dividend of 17 cents per share to the shareholders. Further, free cash flow was up 4% to $150 million. Last year, the group witnessed an impact from slow-down in key segments along with strong US dollar. 

Management Revenue Bridge (Source: Company Reports)
 
The stock price surged 4.8% on February 15, 2017 and the stock is trading at higher levels. We give an “Expensive” recommendation on the stock at the current price of $ 13.59

 
CPU Daily Chart (Source: Thomson Reuters) 

REA Group Ltd

REA Details
Strong performance for 1H FY17: REA Group Ltd (ASX: REA) reported its first half yearly results and have registered 16% rise in revenues to $337 million. EBITDA grew 13% to $200 million while NPAT was up 6% to $122 million. The company reported EPS of 92.5 cents, which is higher than 6% compared to its corresponding period. The company has rewarded investors with half yearly dividend of 40 cents, a handsome growth of 11%. The company further reported that its realestate.com.au is a clear market leader with number of visits and average monthly traffic to the website has been 47.9 million, nearly 2.3x of position 2 property website. The average time spend on the site has been observed at 7.6x of its immediate competitor property website while page views have been 5x against the second major website.
 

Global Highlights (Source: Company Reports)
 
On the other side, REA Group has launched financial services partnership and accordingly the company has made a five-year partnership with NAB wherein REA receives funding from NAB for product development/marketing and commission for home loans settled. REA Group is expanding its global network. In North America, the group reported for revenue growth of 8% to US$186 million. We maintain a “Hold” recommendation on the stock at the current market price of $ 54.54

 
REA Daily Chart (Source: Thomson Reuters) 

Ansell Ltd

ANN Details
Sales down with rise in EPS:Ansell Ltd (ASX: ANN) reported a 1.1% drop in 1H FY17 revenues to US$775.8 million. Industrial growth brands reported an 11% rise. EBIT however grew by 5.3% to US$ 104.6 million contributing a 3.9% rise in EPS. Interim dividend of US 20.25 cents has been declared, up 1.25%. Nitritex Acquisition has strengthened Ansell Life Science Position. Nitritex has a broad portfolio of products under bioClean ^TM brands in the areas of clean rooms and healthcare consumables. Gloves accounts for ~60% of its sales.  The company has also reported 10% growth in emerging market. Going forward, the company expects EPS to be about 2 cents accretive in FY18. We recommend a “Hold” on the stock at the current market price of $ 21.72

 
ANN Daily Chart (Source: Thomson Reuters) 

News Corp

NWS Details
Drop in revenue:News Corp (ASX: NWS) reported 1H FY17 results while second quarter FY17 results entailed lower revenues of $2.12 billion as compared to $2.16 billion in the prior period. Reported revenues reflect a negative impact from foreign currency fluctuations of $53 million. Adjusted revenues excluding the foreign currency impact and acquisitions and divestitures decreased 1% to the prior period as growth in the Digital Real Estate Services and Book Publishing segments was more than offset by lower advertising revenues at the News and Information Services segment. Digital real estate services segment revenue grew 16% compared to prior year. Digital revenues increased 27% of News and Information services segment revenues compared to 22% in the prior year. The current year’s quarter includes a pre-tax non-cash impairment charge of $310 million on account of write down of the fixed assets at the Australian newspapers and lower equity earnings of affiliates primarily driven by a $227 million pre-tax non-cash write down related company’s investment in Foxtel. The tax benefit on impairment was at $121 million. Meanwhile, EBITDA was higher at $325 million compared to $280 million in the prior year and adjusted EBITDA was higher by 14% driven by the continued growth in the Digital Real Estate Services and Book Publishing segments and lower programming rights costs. However, adjusted EPS was down at $0.19 as compared to $0.20 in the prior year. The company declared a dividend of $0.1 per share for Class A and Class B common stock. We maintain our “Expensive” recommendation at the current market price of $ 17.40

 
NWS Daily Chart (Source: Thomson Reuters) 

Newcrest Mining Ltd

NCM Details
Splendid net profit growth: Newcrest Mining Ltd (ASX: NCM) reported 1H FY17 solid statutory profit of US$187 million and underlying profit of US$273 million, which has increased 131% and 333%, respectively, over prior corresponding period. The rise in profit was due to $62 million on account of gold and copper sales volume, $201 million due to gold and copper price increase. Revenues were higher by 17% to US$1,807 million. The company has reported a low AISC of $770/oz. The free cash flow was at $258 million and the leverage ratio improved to 1.3x. Newcrest Mining announced a dividend of US7.5 cents per share. The net debt was reduced by $194 million to $1.9 billion as on December 2016. NCM reported 1.23 moz of production and achieved a target rate of 13 mtpa for December quarter. The company has set a new target of 14 mtpa by December 2017. 

Profit Movement (Source: Company Reports)
 
The company has ramped up CADIA East Mine and has reported milling rate of 26.4 mtpa in December quarter. On the other hand, the stock is trading at higher P/E and given volatile gold price and currency movement, we rate the stock as “Expensive” at the current market price of $ 22.56

 
NCM Daily Chart (Source: Thomson Reuters) 

Amcor Ltd

AMC Details
Weakness in top line: Amcor Ltd (ASX: AMC) reported a 1.8% fall in revenues to US$4,467.3 million for 1H FY17. The statutory profit was down to US$286.6 million and first half profit after tax but before significant items increased 1% to US$308.6 million. The company declared dividend of 19.5 US cents per share. The company expects moderate full year profit before interest and tax growth. However, the Alusa acquisition and strong cost performance had partly offset by destocking in Tobacco packaging. Meanwhile, Amcor is ramping up their Philippines plant and planning to build a dedicated Greenfield plant in India. Rigid Plastic reported a 11.8% fall in sales revenues while underlying profit was down by 6.5%. The company acquired Sonoco North American rigid plastics specialty container business for US$280 million, which is expected to add US$50 million of PBIT by end of FY2020. Going forward, the company expects net financing costs between US$180 – US$190 million in constant currency terms and an effective tax rate of 21%-23%. Free cash flow is expected between US$150 – US$250 million. But with the stock trading at unreasonable P/E, we give an “Expensive” at the current market price of $ 14.96

 
AMC Daily Chart (Source: Thomson Reuters)

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