Stocks making the biggest moves at noon: AMP, Cochlear, GQG Partners and more

These are the ASX companies and sectors making headlines in afternoon trade.

Temple & Webster (ASX: TPW) – Shares surged another 7.3% after Thursday’s 13.0% rally, fueled by the company’s first-half results. The eCommerce retailer posted a 117% jump in net profit to $9.0 million, far exceeding analyst expectations of $5.1 million. The strong earnings beat continues to attract investor interest.

Healius (ASX: HLS) – Shares jumped 7.0% after The Australian reported potential merger talks with rival Australian Clinical Labs. The two companies previously explored a merger in late 2023, but discussions collapsed due to a sharp deterioration in Healius' trading performance and opposition from the ACCC.

GQG Partners (ASX: GQG) – Shares rallied 5.5% after the investment management firm reported its full year results, which broadly met market expectations. The following figures are in US dollars and based on UBS estimates."

• Revenue up 46.9% to $760.4 million vs. $764.2 million ests (0.8% miss)

• Distributable earnings up 50.4% to $447.9 million vs. $434.5 million ests (3.0% beat)

• Full year dividend up 50.2% to 13.67 cents per share vs. 13.3 cents ests (2.7% beat)

• Closing funds under management up 26.9% to $153 billion vs. $162.2 billion ests (5.6% miss)

Abacus Storage King REIT (ASX: ASK) – Shares gained 2.0% after the company reported a 15.1% increase in funds from operations to $43.3 million and declared an interim dividend of 3.1 cents. "Western Australia and New South Wales remained the strongest regions in the portfolio, demonstrating ongoing robust performance," the company said in a statement, adding that "Victoria also recorded high single digit revPAM growth, with ACT exhibiting year-on-year growth for the first time since resetting its pricing strategy post-COVID."

Gold miners are broadly higher after gold prices surged to a record high of US$2,929 overnight. Stocks leading the charge include Bellevue Gold (+6.4%), Spartan Resources (+3.4%), Pantoro (+3.4%) and Alkane Resources (+3.2%).

Cochlear (ASX: COH) – Shares plunged 13.0% after the company posted a weaker-than-expected first-half result and downgraded its full-year outlook to the lower end of its prior guidance. A key takeaway from the report was that "cost of living pressures have been a factor delaying the replacement of ageing sound processing technology." This slowdown hit the company's services revenue, which fell 13% to $305 million.

• Revenue up 5% to $1.16 billion vs. $1.2 billion consensus (2.5% miss)

• Underlying net profit up 7% to $205.5 million vs. $275.9 million consensus (2.2% miss)

• Statutory net profit up 7% to $205.1 million

• Interim dividend up 8% to $2.15 per share vs. Morgans estimates of $2.18 (1.3% miss)

• FY25 underlying NPAT to be at the lower end of $410-430 million range vs. $426.6 million consensus (midpoint of $410-420m implies ~2.7% miss)

• Preparing for the release of a number of new products, including its next generation cochlear impact and off-the-ear sound processor

AMP (ASX: AMP) – Shares fell 13.9% after a mixed half-year result. While the numbers looked strong on the surface, a few key metrics missed analyst expectations. For perspective, AMP shares have rallied more than 50% since August. The below figures compare to Goldman Sachs' estimates.

• Underlying net profit after tax up 15.1% to $236 million vs. $226 million ests (4.4% beat)

• Platforms assets under management based revenue margin of 45 bps, down from 47 bps a year ago and a miss compared to 46.3 bp consensus

• Net interest margins for AMP Bank of 1.26% vs. 1.28% ests (2 bp miss)

• Final dividend of 1.0 cents per share vs. 2.3 cents ests (56% miss)