A Busy News Week Ahead
Journeo (LON:JNEO) – Good News In Transit
My favourite transport technology solutions business is due to announce its 2023 results on Tuesday morning,
We have already had a clear picture of that year’s trading after the group reported its Trading Update six weeks ago.
It predicted that its results would be in-line with market expectations for some £46m of revenues, well up from the £22m of 2022.
Analyst Andrew Renton at Cavendish Capital Markets is looking for the company to have shown a near quadrupling of its adjusted pre-tax profits from £1.0m to £3.9m, lifting earnings to 20.6p (10.3p) per share.
For the current year he is estimating £48m revenues, £4.4m profits, together with earnings of 23.1p per share.
We can already assess just how positive Renton is about the prospects for this £45.47m valued group, having fixed a Price Objective of 385p on its shares, which compares very favourably with Friday’s closing price of just 276p.
The shares touched 298.44p at the end of January and could so easily be back up there again very soon.
Hold tight.
(Profile 07.04.21 @ 95.5p set a Target Price of 120p*)
(Profile 24.03.23 @ 147.5p set a Target Price of 175p*)
Strix Group (LON:KETL) – Starting To Whistle
Its products are used over 1bn times a day.
It has a 56% share of the kettle controls market.
It has its full 2023-year results being declared on Wednesday 27th, which on the face of it may not switch on too many observers.
Expectations are for group sales to have risen substantially over the last year, from £106.9m to £151.0m, while its adjusted pre-tax profits could well have just stood still at £22.0m (£22.2m), with earnings cooling off at 9.2p against 10.9p per share previously, but dividend payments may well have been halved to 3.0p per share.
What will be interesting is to note just how positive the group’s Management sounds about the current year.
Analyst Andy Hanson at Zeus Capital has estimates out for £162.5m revenues, helping to pick profits up to £26.6m, with earnings of 10.5p and a 3.1p dividend per share.
The £145m group’s shares closed last week at only 66p – at which level I would be looking for medium-term buyers to start picking up cheap stock.
(Profile 31.12.19 @ 196p set a Target Price of 250p*)
(Profile 04.03.24 @ 67.60p set a Target Price of 82p)
Michelmersh Brick Holdings (LON:MBH) – Solid Enough To Build Upon
The UK’s fourth largest brick maker will tell it all on Tuesday morning (26th).
Just how it fared with the challenging times within the construction sector in 2023 will surely be revealed.
I like this company and it feels like a ‘quality stock’ for any decent portfolio.
Operating at the premium end of its market, it is the leading producer of UK clay bricks.
Its shares were down to 75p early last November, they peaked at 105p a couple of months ago, easing back to 92.5p, before then closing last week at 99p, valuing the whole group at around £93m.
Analyst James Wood at Canaccord Genuity Capital Markets, who has a 180p Price Objective on the group’s shares, is estimating that 2023 will have seen improved sales at £83.5m (£68.4m), while adjusted pre-tax profits could have come in at £12.8m (£12.5m), generating earnings of 10.4p (10.6p), with a maintained 4.3p per share dividend.
Reflecting a busier order book going forward for the current year, Wood looks for £85.7m sales, £13.4m profits, 10.7p earnings and a slightly higher 4.5p dividend per share.
I remain confident that this group’s shares will achieve my Target Price, so hold on tightly.
(Profile 27.03.23 @ 91p set a Target Price of 115p)
GetBusy (LON:GETB) – Looking To Generate
Continued double-digit growth and value creation was what this productivity software group proclaimed in its mid-January 2023 Trading Year Update.
Positive momentum was recorded in line with its strategic goals during the last year.
The company provides complementary Software as a Service solutions that are focused on productivity and document management.
And this is the bit that I really like – it expects to show for last year revenues of £21.1m (£19.3m) of which its ARR was a massive £20.5m.
Despite that it may just have broken even last year.
I await the accompanying statement from the group when it reports its results on Tuesday morning (26th).
In the last year its shares have been up to 79p and down as low as 52p, last week they closed at 65.50p, valuing the whole group at just £33.2m.
(Profile 05.05.20 @ 60p set a Target Price of 75p*)
(Profile 11.02.22 @ 68p set a Target Price of 85p)
Corero Network Security (LON:CNS) – Certainly Not To Be Denied
This Wednesday (27th) will see this cyber security group declare its end December 2023 Final Results.
The £47m capitalised group’s SmartWall solution helps prevent Distributed Denial of Service attacks.
With operational centres in Massachusetts in the USA and Edinburgh, Corero which is headquartered in London, sells directly and via channel partners, such as Juniper and GTT, to enterprises and telecom, internet and cloud service providers.
The trio of analysts at Canaccord Genuity Capital Markets – Kai Korschelt, Hayley Palmer and Minal Patel – are very positive about their aspirations for the group’s shares – with a Buy rating aiming for 11p a share, against the 9.25p at which they closed last Friday night.
For the year to end December 2023 the analysts have estimated $21.8m ($20.1m) of sales, with adjusted EBITDA lower at $1.8m ($2.6m).
The group has just launched its Corero DDoS Intelligence Service, an automated, AI-assisted subscription service for Corero SmartWall ONETM customers delivering pre-emptive attack mitigation before the first attack is even detected.
CEO Carl Herberger stated that:
“As global DDoS cybercriminals become even more unrelenting, initiating increasingly sophisticated attacks, it is essential that Corero continues to innovate to support our customers’ day-to-day security requirements and maintain our best-in-class service offering.
The launch of our new DDoS Intelligence Service takes our latest DDoS threat research and pushes it straight to our SmartWall ONETM solution, extending our protection capabilities for our customers well beyond existing standard installation and deployment parameters.”
Look out for profitability and positive cash-flow generation, whilst delivering growth in both ARR and revenue.
The shares are currently trading at around 9.25p.
Hold tightly for further medium-term upside.
(Profile 14.04.20 @ 4.2p set a Target Price of 6.5p*)
And Finally ….
Aston Martin Lagonda Global Holdings (LON:AML) – New Drivee Now Motor Away
Was it problems with delays in production combined with hassles with the group’s software that tipped the balance?
Was it the lack of real performance or the concerns that the City perceived about the luxury car maker’s finances?
Something certainly seemed to be enough to see CEO Amedeo Felisa being sidelined and replaced by Adrian Hallmark, the former CEO of Volkswagen owned Bentley.
So now let us see some prospect-reflecting movements in the AML share price.
They closed last week at only 173p, which is well down on the 396p scored in July last year, but still higher than the paltry 154.04p depthed out price of two weeks ago.
Now having secured a very adequate financing package I do feel that this group’s shares are capable of regaining their previous composure, with trading in the 225p to 275p range being a fair possibility.
(Profile 10.05.23 @ 213.5p set a Target Price of 265p*)
(Profile 30.10.23 @ 213p set a Target Price of 275p)
Accrol Group Holdings (LON:ACRL) – Is It Too Early To Clean Up
At the end of January this year I wrote that the shares of this loo roll and wet wipes maker were underpriced at 34.45p and could soon go through my latest Target Price of 39.75p.
Now after Navigator, the European paper and pulp maker, has made an ‘agreed’ 38p cash per share bid, that may not happen – unless another bidder pops up with a much higher and more useful counter-offer.
That could well be a possibility because Navigator only seems to have acceptances on some 28.7% of Accrol’s equity, including the Boards’ pathetic 5.4%.
In market terms it is something of a toss-up – with the real indication of a better offer in the offing when the shares close much higher than Friday night’s 38.30p.
(Profile 12.03.19 @ 22p set no Target Price)
(Profile 22.01.24 @ 34.60p set a Target Price of 39.75p)
(Asterisks * denote that Target Prices have been achieved since Profile publication)
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