MRE Reporting Season Update

Macquarie Research Equities (MRE) has noted that about 65% of companies now having reported their profit results to the market. Stocks in the ASX100 have recorded 22 positive surprises and 9 negative surprises for the reporting season to date. The Ex100 was more volatile and reported 29 positive and 28 negative surprises.

Upgrades across a broad range of stocks. Notable upgrades to FY06 Earnings Per Share (EPS) forecasts as a result of better than expected December 2005 results include: AMP, CSL, David Jones (DJS), Downer EDI (DOW), Macquarie Leisure (MLE), Onesteel (OST), Publishing and Broadcasting Ltd (PBL), Resmed (RMD), Seek (SEK), Woodside (WPL ) and Zinifex (ZFX). Key downgrades to date include Bluescope Steel (BSL), Coca-Cola Amatil (CCL), Healthscope (HSP), Lendlease (LLC), Newcrest (NCM) and Mcguigan Simeon (MGW).