AU Morning Wrap: Nufarm, Xero Leap; Aristocrat Tumbles
G'day, mooers! Check out the latest news on today's stock market!
• US stocks rise on positive debt-ceiling update
• ASX advanced, buoyed by gains across the materials and tech sectors
• Stocks to watch: Nufarm, Xero, Aristocrat Leisure
- Moomoo News AU
• US stocks rise on positive debt-ceiling update
• ASX advanced, buoyed by gains across the materials and tech sectors
• Stocks to watch: Nufarm, Xero, Aristocrat Leisure
- Moomoo News AU
Wall Street Summary
Gains for bank shares and a positive debt-ceiling update from President Biden helped push stock indexes higher on Wednesday, even as concerns about the lingering D.C. standoff troubled investors.
Overall, broader indexes spent the day building gains, which grew after Biden's late-morning remarks. The $S&P 500 Index(.SPX.US$ gained 1.2%, the $Dow Jones Industrial Average(.DJI.US$ climbed 408.63 points, or 1.2%% to finish at 33420.77 and the tech-centric $Nasdaq Composite Index(.IXIC.US$ rose 1.3%. The S&P and the Dow are struggling to find their way into positive territory for May while the Nasdaq is up by about 2.2% this month.
AU Market Watch
The $S&P/ASX 200(.XJO.AU$ advanced 0.7 per cent, or 51.9 points, to 7251.1 in the opening minutes of trade, buoyed by gains across the materials and tech sectors.
Nufarm rallied 10 per cent to $5.83 after announcing its half-year underlying net profit after tax (uNPAT) increased 7 per cent.
Xero added 4.7 per cent to $98.53 after reporting that its revenue grew 28 per cent to $NZ1.4 billion in the 2023 financial year.
Aristocrat Leisure tumbled 3.6 per cent to $37.84 despite lifting its dividend on a higher half-year profit.
The major miners advanced on higher iron ore prices; $BHP Group Ltd(BHP.US$ climbed 1.9 per cent to $44.57, $Rio Tinto Ltd(RIO.AU$ added 1.7 per cent to $110.22 and $Fortescue Ltd(FMG.AU$ rose 1.9 per cent to $20.63.
Stocks to Watch
$Xero Ltd(XRO.AU$: Xero's revenue grew 28 per cent to $NZ1.4 billion in the 2023 financial year, reflecting ongoing subscriber growth and average revenue per user (ARPU) improvement.
Annualised monthly recurring revenue (AMRR) grew by 26 per cent to $NZ1.55 billion. Adjusted EBITDA rose 45 per cent to $NZ301.7 million, driving an increase in free cash flow to $NZ102.3 million.
Xero incurred non-cash impairments and associated costs, and restructuring charges, leading to a 26 per cent decrease in EBITDA to $NZ158.4 million.
This includes a $NZ77.9 million impairment to Planday, $NZ48.5 million of impairments and other costs related to Waddle, $NZ34.7 million in restructuring costs, and non-cash accounting revaluation gains of $NZ17.9 million.
The company reported a net loss after tax of $NZ113.5 million compared to a $NZ9.1 million loss in the same period last year.
$KMD Brands Ltd(KMD.AU$: KMD Brands says sales growth across all its brands continued in the third quarter of this financial year.
The group reported total sales growth of 15.6 per cent in the third quarter, taking year-to-date growth to 27.7 per cent.
KMD's Rip Curl brand delivered sales growth of 7.9 per cent in the third quarter, while Kathmandu reported 11.3 per cent growth and Oboz 120.3 per cent growth.
$Ares Acquisition Corp(AAC.US$: Australian Agricultural Company (AAC) reported a 35 per cent increase in operating profit for the 2023 financial year to $67.4 million.
The company's revenue increased 14 per cent on the prior year to $313.4 million.
AAC said the result was driven by brand-supported price increases in all its major markets.
Statutory net profit after tax dropped to $4.6 million, from $136.9 million in the prior period. This was attributed to softening cattle prices driving down the unrealised mark-to-market fair value adjustment of the herd compared to the prior period.
$Nufarm Ltd(NUF.AU$: Nufarm's underlying net profit after tax (uNPAT) increased 7 per cent to $142 million in the six months ended March 31.
Underlying gross profit was $609 million, up 3 per cent, with its underlying gross profit margin improving over 120 basis points to 31 per cent.
Underlying earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation was $316 million, a 4 per cent decrease, on revenue of $2 billion.
Nufarm declared an unfranked interim dividend of 5¢ per share, up 25 per cent compared to the same period last year.
$Aristocrat Leisure Ltd(ALL.AU$: Aristocrat Leisure's net profit after tax and before amortisation of acquired intangibles (NPATA) rose 14 per cent to $659 million in the half-year to March 31.
The company attributed the result to a strong performance in Gaming Americas and resilience in Pixel United despite challenging market conditions, interest income benefits and strategic investment in talent and technology.
Revenue grew 12 per cent to $3.1 billion, while EBITDA was up 5.7 per cent to $1.02 billion.
Dividends Paid: None
Listing: None
Source: Dow Jones Newswires, AFR
Disclaimer: Moomoo Technologies Inc. is providing this content for information and educational use only.
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Gilley : things up on America's bs Market manipulation up 10 dollars in nasdeq in a week is nuts debt is so high even after they raise the ceiling that will need to be raised again if the double the debt ceiling it still couldn't pay off all the new debt
151363739 : High likely debt ceiling will b going high always