Evening Wrap: ASX 200 edges higher, tech sector rallies on Altium and Megaport earnings

The S&P/ASX 200 closed 6 points higher, up 0.09%. 

The S&P/ASX 200 Tech sector rallied more than 5% on better-than-expected earnings from Altium and a narrower-than-expected loss from Megaport, Coles shares spiral 7% lower on a profit miss, uranium stocks post a broad-based rally and UBS' take on some of today's results.

Let's dive in.

ASX 200 Session Chart

ASX 200 finishes slightly higher in choppy trade (Source: Market Index)

Markets

The ASX 200 finished slightly higher, off session lows of -0.36%. Index and sector movements were again dictated by high-profile results. We'll list some of the main ones below:

• Tech led to the upside thanks to better-than-expected results from Altium (+25.9%) and Megaport (+16.9%)

• Telcos bounced after Telstra (+3.3%) snapped a three-day post-earnings selloff

• Staples underperformed after Coles (-7.1%) missed FY23 net profit expectations

Economy

No major economic announcements.

Latest news

Interesting news and movers

Trading higher

• +25.9% Altium (ALU) – Earnings

• +16.9% Megaport (MP1) – Earnings

• +11.3% Hub24 (HUB) – Earnings

• +10.5% ImpediMed (IPD) – Reaffirms growth plan

• +9.3% Audinte (AD8) – Post earnings rally

• +6.4% Shaver Shop (SSG) – Earnings

• +5.95% Sandfire Resources (SFR) – Secures mining license extension

• +5.9% A2 Milk (A2M) – Earnings

• +3.9% Helia Group (HLI) – Earnings

• +3.8% Scentre Group (SCG) – Earnings

• +3.6% Alpha HPA (A4N) – Project update

• +3.2% MacMahon (MAH) – Earnings

• +1.7% Allkem (AKE) – Earnings

• Uranium sector move: 92Energy (+10.0%), Paladin Energy (+8.2%), Bannerman Energy (+8.2%), Alligator Energy (+7.9%), Deep Yellow (+6.8%)

Trading lower

• -30.1% Queensland Pacific (QPM) – Capital raise

• -18.8% Data#3 (DTL) – Earnings

• -12.4% Perenti (PRN) – Earnings

• -12.1% Australian Clinical Labs (ACL) – Earnings

• -11.2% Kogan (KGN) – Earnings

• -8.0% Alumina (AWC) – Earnings

• -7.1% Coles (COL) – Earnings

• -5.3% G8 Education (GEM) – Earnings

• -4.9% Nanosonics (NAN) – Earnings

• -4.1% ARB Corp (ARB) – Earnings

• -3.9% IRESS (IRE) – Downgraded by multiple brokers

• -2.9% Breville Group (BRG) – Downgraded by multiple brokers

Broker notes

UBS’ take on some of today’s results:

G8 Education (GEM) – Neutral with $1.28 target ($1.14 at 21 Aug close)

• “Positive improvement throughout half in dealing with labour shortage impacted centres (46 down to 7), together with good cost control and inc. $2m (FY) benefit from exited centres - which should help seasonally stronger 2H23.”

Hub24 (HUB) – Buy with $30.00 target ($28.03 at 21 Aug close)

• “Looks like a positive update overall. Revenues and earnings are below UBSe but ahead of consensus. Cost growth slightly better than our forecast. DPS is ahead of our forecast and $50m buyback announcement.”

• “FUA guidance has been pushed out and lifted to $92-100bn by FY25 (UBSe $91.7bn). Previous FY24 FUA guidance ($80-89bn) looked stretched to us, but FY25 likely benefits from EQT transitions of $4bn over the next 18 months.”

Monadelphous (MND) – Neutral with $13.40 target ($13.26 at 21 Aug close) 

• “FY23 earnings in line with UBSe/Cons, with outlook commentary and order book momentum suggesting a return to revenue growth in FY24.”

• “Solid FY23 result, in line with market expectations. Construction revenue growth and margin delivery are key swing factors into FY24, with Monadelphous noting a progressive ramp-up in activity across the year.”

Scentre Group (SCG) – Neutral with $2.80 target ($2.64 at 21 Aug close)

• “Health of the portfolio is robust with improving occupancy (+0.2% to 99%) and specialty occupancy costs of ~16% (18% in 2019).”

• “FFO beat of 6.5% with no change to guidance suggest one-offs in 1H Net operating income and debt costs to be a headwind in 2H.”

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