Stocks to watch: Pike River , F&P Healthcare, Telecom

Monday 24th August 2009

The following stocks may be active on the New Zealand exchange after developments since the close of trading Friday.

Themes of the day: This is one of the peak weeks for earnings, with companies including Pike River Coal, Michael Hill international, Vector, Air New Zealand, Sky City, Auckland International Airport and Guinness Peat Group set to report their results. Stocks rallied on Wall Street and in Europe on Friday after US home sales jumped and Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke gave an upbeat appraisal on the global economy. The kiwi dollar climbed to 68.30 US cents today, the highest in 11 months, as the greenback and the yean weakened.

Air New Zealand (AIR): Deputy chief executive, Norm Thompson has become embroiled in an Australian antitrust regulator inquiry into price-fixing, the Age newspaper said. In the Federal Court, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission alleges Thompson attempted to illegally fix rates with key rival Emirates. The shares fell 5 cents to $1.22 on Friday.

Barramundi (BRM): The investment fund reported a loss of $15.7 million in the 12 months through June, and improvement from the previous year’s $29.5 million loss. It was a “disappointing result that reflected the dismal market conditions,” the company said. Its shares rose four cents to 68 cents on Friday.

Fisher & Paykel Healthcare (FPH): Chief executive Michael Daniell told shareholders on Friday that earnings are expected to rise 25% in 2010 as higher-than-expected sales make up for the impact of a stronger kiwi dollar on overseas sales. Net profit will be $75 million to $80 million in the year ending March 31, Daniell said. The shares rose 2.5% to $3.33 on Friday.

Pike River Coal (PRC): The coal miner which is yet to ship any of the fuel is scheduled to post earnings today, with a loss of $13 million forecast, reflecting costs to develop its mine, including additional work on a ventilation shaft. Investors will be focusing on the company’s progress with bringing the mine on rather than the financials. The shares rose 0.9% to $1.15 on Friday.

Steel & Tube Holdings (STU): The shares are rated ‘outperform’ by Kar Yue Yeo, an analyst at First NZ Capital, according to the ShareChat website. ”As trading conditions improve in the second half, we think driven by housing initially, this should be reflected in higher volume and potentially also for product prices in US dollars as global demand recovers," he said, raising his 2011 profit forecast by 18%.

Telecom (TEL): The biggest company on the NZX 50 on Friday predicted 2010 earnings would fall as much as 23%. Profit declined 56% in the fourth-quarter on a weaker-than-expected performance in its mobile business. About 1,000 engineers will strike today to try to unwind the contract between network division Chorus and Visionstream. The shares fell 1.1% to $2.64 on Friday.

Businesswire.co.nz

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