News Corp – 2Q21 Earnings

News is under Algo Engine sell conditions, however, we expect to see a switch in 2021 to buy conditions and will remain on watch for the buy signal alert.

2Q21 EBITDA came in well ahead of expectations with News Corp reporting 2Q21 EBITDA of $497m, up 40% on the same time last year.

Newscorp trades on 1% forward dividend yield.

James Hardie -3Q21

Earnings were largely in line with market consensus, although revenue was better than expected. Guidance has been upgraded.

James Hardie’s 3Q21 NPAT of $123.3m was up 60% on the same time last year. FY21 NPAT guidance was upgraded from $380-420m to $440-450m.

JHX now trades on a forward yield of 1.8%. US70c special dividend was also announced.

We look for a switch to Algo Engine buy conditions in 2021.

CIMIC – Earnings Review

Cimic Group has been one of our high conviction ideas expressed to members during our regular Monday night webinars.

CIM offers exposure to above-average EPS growth supported by increased government and private spending on infrastructure in Australia, New Zealand and Asia.

CIMIC is scheduled to report full year earnings on 10 Feb with NPAT estimated to be around $650mil.

US Labor Markets

The recovery in the U.S. labor market appeared to stagnate for a second month, as non-farm payrolls increased by just 49,000 and December’s figure was downwardly revised to show 227,000 job losses, strengthening the case for further stimulus.

A break below 3,856 in the S&P500 will be negative for the momentum traders.

A2 Milk – 1H21 Earnings

The A2 Milk Company is under Algo Engine buy conditions and has been among the worst-performing stocks within our ASX 100 model portfolio.

Downgrade to earnings as a result of the impact on the Daigou channel sales into China has resulted in EPS likely to be down 32%.

The market is not expecting any further negative surprises, as the company last provided an update in December. 1H21 results to be announced on 25th February 2021.