Rudi’s Comprehensive February 2025 Review

Feature Stories | Mar 21 2025

A compilation of stories relating to the February 2025 corporate reporting season in Australia, including FNArena's final balance for the season.

Content (in chronological order of publication):

-Cochlear, Guzman y Gomez, SiteMinder, Wesfarmers & Xero
-Earnings Optimism On The Rise
-AGL Energy, Bega Cheese, BRG, Harvey Norman, Imdex & Superloop
-Hope Trumps Uncertainties
-BHP, Capstone Copper, NextDC, WiseTech & Woodside
-Turning Laggards Into Winners
-More Beats In Early Feb Results
-Best Ideas & Conviction Calls
-February's Reality Check
-To Sell Or Not To Sell
-Preparing For Tougher Times Ahead
-Post February Conviction Calls
-Navigating The Trump Slump
-Best Buys In Copper, Small Caps, Tech, Healthcare, And More

By Rudi Filapek-Vandyck, Editor FNArena

Cochlear, Guzman y Gomez, SiteMinder, Wesfarmers & Xero

Morningstar's selection of Best Buys on the ASX (with no changes from the prior update in December):

Morningstar has a typical value' oriented methodology, which does not apply well for Growth and Technology stocks, plus, on my personal observation, a very outdated view on what makes a moat'.

As undervalued stocks can be quite often "cheap" for very good reasons (like: no earnings growth) selected companies can remain on Morningstar's list for a long while; in some cases literally multiple years.

The two exceptions from what you just read are Brambles and SiteMinder.

-APA Group ((APA))

-ASX ((ASX))

-Aurizon Holdings ((AZJ))

-Bapcor ((BAP))

-Brambles ((BXB))

-Domino's Pizza ((DMP))

-Dexus ((DXS))

-Endeavour Group ((EDV))

-Fineos Corp ((FCL))

-IDP Education ((IEL))

-IGO Ltd ((IGO))

-Ramsay Health Care ((RHC))

-SiteMinder ((SDR))

-Santos ((STO))

-TPG Telecom ((TPG))

****

Healthcare sector analysts at RBC Capital have used their preview to the February results season to express their preferences:

-Cochlear ((COH))
-Integral Diagnostics ((IDX))
-Australian Clinical Labs ((ACL))
-Ansell ((ANN))
-Regis Healthcare ((REG))
-Monash IVF ((MVF))

Ironically, Australian Clinical Labs has been identified as at risk for delivering a negative surprise next month, alongside Sonic Healthcare ((SHL)) and Healius ((HLS)).

Among Australia's Small Cap Industrials, RBC Capital's three top picks are:

-G8 Education ((GEM))
-Temple & Webster ((TPW))
-Zip Co ((ZIP))

That last nominee released a rather disappointing market update on Thursday, which pulled down the share price more than -20%.

RBC analysts foresee multiple catalysts for the company in the year ahead, so maybe this won't change their positive view?

Among ASX-listed Technology companies Xero ((XRO)) and TechOne ((TNE)) are the two Key Picks.

****

Morgan Stanleys two key picks among consumer-related companies on the ASX ahead of February are Guzman y Gomez ((GYG)) and IDP Education ((IEL)).

The first nominee has potential to deliver a positive margin surprise while IDP Education is expected to release better-than-feared visa data and ongoing progress in China.

Morgan Stanley is Underweight-rated on JB Hi-Fi ((JBH)), Harvey Norman ((HVN)), Super Retail ((SUL)) and Wesfarmers ((WES)); all should report solid sales numbers, but the broker sees risk in margins.

This broker's preferred local Real Estate stocks are Goodman Group ((GMG)), Charter Hall ((CHC)), Stockland ((SGP)), Scentre Group ((SCG)), GPT Group ((GPT)), and Centuria Capital Group ((CNI)).

All nominations have in common that each have small short term concerns heading into Feb-25 reporting, the broker highlights.