Building approvals boost building stocks, CSR reports
Building Stocks
Big beat for domestic building approvals today, coming in at +15.4% vs an expected 1.5%. The big beat was driven by a lift in the number of private approvals – both housing and other dwellings were up strongly. It has been a choppy rebound to construction with July showing 11.7% increase before August saw approvals fall. Construction is at the forefront of stimulus with a number of policies aimed at boosting private construction, The building material stocks were up on the back of the news, Boral (BLD) resuming its recent strength with a 5.48% effort today.
CSR was the best, adding 5.67% with the company also posting half year earnings. The building products segment was strong, though this was more than offset with a weak Aluminium unit performance as the commodity fell. Net profit was down only 7% though to $66.4m which beat estimates by almost 15%. The company was pretty cautious in its outlook saying building products had started the year on the back-foot having seen revenue down 6% on the first four weeks of the half. The roll off of stimulus measures has CSR on edge with earnings clearly tied to economic activity and employment.
CSR Chart
