Viewpoint: Bullish
US stocks drifted lower overnight as bond yields rallied further dampening enthusiasm for risk assets due to potential rising borrowing costs which took the allure from stocks.
One move that caught my attention was in the bulk commodity iron ore yesterday as it rallied strongly towards fresh 2021 highs, an advance we’ve been expecting and flagged over recent weeks.
CSL Ltd (CSL) gave the market a healthy nudge yesterday rallying almost $8 / 2.8% after it delivered a mixed but overall net positive result including a almost 17% increase in revenue which flowed down to a 45% increase in NPAT
The best performer on the main index yesterday was Treasury Wine (TWE) which rallied over 17% following a better than feared half-year result and medium term outlook. As expected revenue declined 23% with reduced shipments to China as the company toils with anti-dumping accusations.
Abacus (ABP) +2.67%: another stock we own in the Income portfolio out today, first half funds from operations (FFO) fell 10% to $60.6m largely as a result of non-core assets.
Wesfarmers (WES) +0.63%: first half result was a beat to the market with profit up 23% at $1.4b ahead of consensus at $1.2b. The dividend rose with the profit, climbing to 88c.
CSL Limited (CSL) +2.78%: A good 1H21 result from CSL booking a decent NPAT beat for the half, on the back of strong Seqirus revenue but they maintained their FY21 guidance given weakness in Plasma collections in December.
Crown (CWN) +0.41%: Not much point talking CWN earnings as they are largely irrelevant given the massive disruption in Melbourne and the big reform agenda now in front of them. These things (re-opening) plus board / management refresh will dictate the future of this iconic business.
Oz Minerals (OZL) +0.97%: a full year result for OZL, caught a commodity tailwind into the end of the year across copper & gold. NPAT up ~50% to $213m was in line with expectations, net cash of $32m and operations all running smoothly.
NRW Holdings (NWH) -17.14%: A few issues in the NRW result today and the stock down 17% as a result. The issues broadly are around higher costs thanks to COVID which has driven lower margins and that has hurt earnings, at the EBITDA line this was a 10% miss however more in terms of profit (-26%).
