0447 GMT - Anglo American is shifting from being a restructuring story to being a cash flow one, says Citi analyst Ephrem Ravi in a note. He sees the miner tying up loose ends in reshaping its portfolio over the next six months. Ravi's remarks follow the spinoff of Anglo's platinum business. A sale or spinoff of its diamond business remains the most challenging part of its restructuring, says Ravi. However, market expectations for that are also low, both on value and timing, he says. Anglo "is on track to be a play on copper and iron ore by end of 2025," says Ravi. Citi raises its target on the stock to GBP22.00 from GBP20.60. It keeps a neutral rating. Anglo ended Wednesday at GBP22.335. ([email protected]; @RhiannonHoyle)

0349 GMT - The simplified corporate structure created by the merger of Washington H. Soul Pattinson and Brickworks is seen as a net positive at Australian brokerage Morgans. Analyst Steven Sassine highlights the benefits of unpicking the companies' longstanding cross-holdings in each other. The melding of the investment manager and building-products maker further diversifies Soul Patts' portfolio and is likely to increase liquidity and the proportion of shares held by public investors. The latter is important for indexed and institutional funds, he reminds clients in a note. Morgans lifts its target price on Soul Patts by 15% to A$43.15 and keeps a hold rating on the stock, which is down 3.5% at A$39.95. ([email protected])

0137 GMT - It's still too early to judge the potential impact of Judo Capital's new deposit products on its metrics at scale, Citi analyst Thomas Strong says. New products scheduled for launch in the Australian business lender's fiscal 2026 offer an opportunity to lower its overall funding costs, but Strong points out that this gives Judo a couple of options. He thinks Judo could look to expand net interest margin or reinvest savings to ramp up asset growth. Citi raises its target price 3.2% to A$1.60 and stays neutral on the stock, which is down 1.6% at A$1.505. ([email protected])

0130 GMT - The outperformance of Australian banking stocks over mining ones "is looking tired," Citi analysts say in a note. Since the start of 2024, Australia's banks have outperformed the S&P/ASX200 by roughly 27%, while materials stocks have underperformed the index by the same amount, the analysts say. The two sectors account for some 45% of the Australian market, so "getting the sector tilt right is one of the crucial calls for portfolio managers," they say. While the analysts aren't especially bullish on miners, they say investors should be mindful of their positioning. For banks, valuations look full and earnings expectations are being downgraded. Miners look better value and have some better earnings momentum, they say. Among miners, they highlight a buy rating on BHP. They say NAB and CBA are their top sell calls. ([email protected]; @RhiannonHoyle)

0128 GMT - Judo Capital shares could rise by about 75% in value by the end of the decade, Morgans analyst Nathan Lead reckons. He warns clients in a note that the Australian lender's challenger status in business banking makes it a higher-risk investment compared with major banks. He also points out that Judo's retention of capital to support loan growth makes investors entirely reliant on capital growth for returns. That said, he anticipates what he calls stellar earnings growth in Judo's next two fiscal years and thinks that A$2.65 is a reasonable share-price target for the end of the decade. Morgans has a A$1.75 target price and lowers its recommendation to accumulate from buy. Shares are down 1.3% at A$1.51. ([email protected])

0122 GMT - The sale of the U.K.'s Telegraph newspapers suggests to Morgan Stanley that they and others might be undervaluing News Corp's newspaper assets in the U.K. and Australia. The MS analysts write in a note that Telegraph Media Group's US$675 million price tag represents an enterprise value of 8.4 times Ebitda, based on the last publicly available financials. They currently value News Corp's U.K. and Australian newspapers account at US$657 million, or just 2%-3% of the media conglomerate's total value. This now looks conservative at just 5X expected fiscal 2025 Ebitda, they say. MS has an overweight rating and US$37.00 target price on News Corp's U.S.-listed stock, which closed at US$32.16. News Corp is the parent company of Dow Jones & Co., publisher of The Wall Street Journal and Dow Jones Newswires. ([email protected])

0045 GMT - Catapult Group International's CEO talks about the sports-tech provider's latest acquisition as though it's a fairytale. "Most of the times, we're seeing a lot of frogs and we're not seeing a lot of princes," Lopes says on an investor call. He says Catapult acquired strength-training tech provider Perch for US$18 million after management there rethought the company's growth strategy and cash profile. Lopes has previously talked about how he receives one or two pitches a week from wannabe targets, many with unrealistic valuation aspirations. ([email protected])

2343 GMT - Elders's purchase of Delta Agribusiness for a A$475 million enterprise value is ultimately likely to happen, says Jefferies. That is despite the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission raising initial concerns about the deal. Analyst John Campbell thinks Elders will need to sell some assets to secure ACCC approval. Jefferies also thinks allowing Elders to get bigger through M&A could benefit Australian farmers. It would help Elders to compete more effectively with Nutrien, which has significant global fertilizer manufacturing capabilities that give it a competitive advantage, Jefferies says. ([email protected]; @dwinningWSJ)

2338 GMT - The takeover tussle for PointsBet just got more interesting. MIXI Australia has raised its offer for PointsBet by 13% to A$1.20/share. Also, MIXI could make an off-market bid if it is unsuccessful with its Scheme Implementation Deed. MIXI's offer price now matches the all-cash bid by betr Entertainment. "The ball now appears to be in betr's court though the ability to increase its bid seems limited given funding constraints or limitations," Bell Potter analyst Chris Savage says. Betr owns 19.9% of PointsBet, which means MIXI is unlikely to succeed with the Scheme. This explains why MIXI is considering proceeding with an off-market offer if the Scheme is not approved, Bell Potter says. "Hence this may still have a way to play out," it adds. ([email protected]; @dwinningWSJ)

2326 GMT -- Car dealer Autosports's new debt facility and improving earnings momentum help cement Wilsons's bullish view of its stock. Autosports yesterday announced a new A$350 million syndicated debt facility with four existing financiers. Analyst James Ferrier says it gives Autosports more firepower for M&A when car manufacturers are rethinking their dealership arrangements. "Looking ahead, falling interest rates and the potential unwind of the luxury car tax present demand tailwinds," Wilsons says. It expects gross margins to improve across many car brands that Autosports sells. ([email protected])

2321 GMT - Military shipbuilder Austal's share price has rallied more than 90% since the start of this year. That prompts Bell Potter to downgrade the stock to "hold," from "buy." "We remain positive on the long-term outlook for Austal, considering the macro tailwinds and attractive growth profile," analyst Daniel Laing says. "However, we are conscious of its current valuation." Bell Potter raises its price target by 26%, to A$5.60/share. But that remains below Austal's closing price of A$5.94 on Wednesday. Key risks to Bell Potter's downgrade include more passive funds flows from Austal's potential inclusion in the ASX 200 index. Bell Potter also highlights the potential for material contract awards linked to the Strategic Shipbuilding Agreement with the Australian government. ([email protected]; @dwinningWSJ)

2243 GMT - It's only a matter of time before Greatland Gold acquires Antipa Minerals, reckons Euroz Hartleys. That's because Antipa's Minyari Gold project is located just 22 miles from Greatland Gold's Telfer processing plant in Australia. Analyst Michael Scantlebury notes Greatland's updated outlook for Telfer, which lays out how it expects to bridge the gap between now and when production starts from the Havieron deposit in FY 2028. Euroz Hartleys believes there would be ample processing capacity for Antipa's annual output of 3 million tons of ore from FY 2028. It also thinks "Antipa's Minyari Gold project ore tons are higher margin and lower risk" than what Greatland currently envisages. Euroz Hartleys lifts its price target on Antipa by 23% to A$0.98/share. Antipa ended Wednesday at A$0.66. ([email protected]; @dwinningWSJ)

0545 GMT - European companies with significant operations in the U.S. could be hurt by a provision included in President Trump's tax bill that introduces retaliatory tax measures, Goldman Sachs equity strategists say in a research note. The new rule, Section 899, allows for retaliatory taxes against non-U.S. individuals, corporations, and governments from countries that impose taxes considered unfair on U.S. persons, the strategists say. Countries likely affected include most EU members, the U.K., Canada, Australia, South Korea, Norway, and Switzerland, according to Goldman Sachs. Taking the tax provisions at face value, earnings estimates for the Stoxx Europe 600 could be cut by 1%-2% in the first year and by up to 5% over a four-year horizon, all else being equal, the strategists estimate. ([email protected])

0509 GMT - There are several ways Glencore shareholders might benefit if the miner pursues a merger with Rio Tinto, say Citi analysts Ephrem Ravi and Paul McTaggart. Glencore would gain exposure to iron-ore earnings, and growth from copper and lithium, they say. That would give it a much bigger pool of marketing options. If Glencore carves off coal assets to marry its metals operations with Rio Tinto's, that metals business could enjoy a rerating, say the analysts. Shareholders would retain exposure separately to the lucrative energy assets. Australian investors could also get fully franked dividends. For Rio Tinto, the main benefit of a tie-up would be diversification away from iron ore, the analysts say. The steel ingredient today accounts for most of Rio Tinto's earnings. ([email protected]; @RhiannonHoyle)

(END) Dow Jones Newswires