0359 GMT - Alcoa's closure of the Kwinana alumina refinery in Western Australia is strategically sensible, according to Jefferies analyst Christopher LaFemina. "But it is also an expensive exit from this business," he says. The permanent closure of the refinery will result in 3Q restructuring charges of roughly $890 million before tax. Alcoa's overall investment case, while benefiting from price tailwinds, is complicated by several issues, says LaFemina. They include permits to mine high-grade bauxite in Western Australia starting later this decade, challenges at the San Ciprian smelter and refinery in Spain, and other costs to improve the business, he says. "We expect Alcoa's share price to rise over time, but the complexities of the business will likely continue to be an overhang." ([email protected]; @RhiannonHoyle)

0114 GMT - Crossholding rears its ugly head in the wake of Southern Cross Media's proposed merger with Seven West Media, according to Canaccord Genuity. Seven West currently owns 14.5% of ARN Media. At the same time, ARN Media owns 14.8% of Southern Cross's stock. Analyst Conor O'Prey says this figure would "reduce by half upon the dilution arising from a Southern Cross/Seven West transaction and potentially creating a challenge around estimating the valuation of both businesses." Canaccord says it was somewhat surprised by the merger, given the different trajectories of the two businesses. It expects Southern Cross's share price "to de-rate from its current PE ratio" as investors account for Seven West's lower rating. ([email protected]; @dwinningWSJ)

0056 GMT - Shareholder returns could be on Pantoro Gold's menu, says Euroz Hartleys as its price target lifts 66% to A$6.16/share. Pantoro's options are growing as gold prices hover around record highs. Analyst Michael Scantlebury estimates Pantoro could be generating some A$50 million of cash each quarter if current gold prices hold. "The company has previously noted that they want A$200 million on the balance sheet, before considering buybacks and potential dividends," Euroz Hartleys says. It retains a speculative buy call on Pantoro, which is up 2.2% at A$6.19. ([email protected]; @dwinningWSJ)

0052 GMT - Investors in Southern Cross Media may find it hard to get their heads around a planned merger with Seven West Media, Morgan Stanley says. That's because Southern Cross achieved its goal of becoming a pure audio broadcaster when selling its regional TV stations. Now, the Seven West tie-up will flip it back into TV in a bigger way than ever. "We also think Southern Cross shareholders may be disappointed that the company has not received a cash takeover bid itself after recent media reports along these lines," analyst Andrew McLeod says, nodding toward a story in The Australian. Still, the deal is better than the status quo, MS says. A bigger company can cut costs aggressively, and offers greater scale to advertisers. MS also sees an opportunity for faster growth of digital assets. ([email protected]; @dwinningWSJ)

0043 GMT - Building materials supplier Wagners is downgraded to hold, from accumulate, by Morgans which thinks its valuation has become stretched. Wagners's share price has more than tripled in value over the past year, even as the company's share count has swollen. Last month, Wagners raised A$30 million of equity via an institutional placement. Investor optimism reflects a strong outlook for Southeast Queensland construction markets, Morgans says. Enthusiasm is also building as work gets underway for the 2032 Brisbane Olympics. "Whilst it's unclear what specific contracts Wagners may win, the increase in aggregate demand across the region will likely be beneficial," analyst Liam Schofield says. Morgans raises its price target by 5.5% to A$2.90/share. Wagners is down 0.4% at A$2.79 today. ([email protected]; @dwinningWSJ)

2317 GMT - The backdrop for Australian consumer electronics companies is the most favorable it has been in years, says Jarden. It points to households moving to replace products bought during the Covid-19 pandemic. Also, data point to intensifying activity in homebuying and new products launching on to the market. Analyst Ben Gilbert says these tailwinds suggest "upside to top-line forecasts for FY 2026/2027." Jarden reckons Breville could benefit most. "The upside risk to earnings for Breville, JB Hi-Fi and Harvey Norman could be 1 percentage point to our current sales estimates and circa 2 percentage points to consensus," it says. Jarden assumes a 2-8 year cycle, with replacement of older products accounting for some 70% of demand across electronics. ([email protected])

2305 GMT - Telix Pharmaceuticals's shares have fallen more than 50% from February's high on setbacks that include the rejection by the Food and Drug Administration of two promising products. Telix in late August said the FDA had identified deficiencies relating to the chemistry, manufacturing, and controls package for its Zircaix kidney cancer imaging product. Telix also plans to resubmit a new drug application for its Pixclara brain cancer imaging product. Citi thinks both can be remediated. Zircaix is probably the easier ask, given the rejection was for manufacturing, it says. "We cannot think of a good example of a biopharma company giving up on a significant pipeline asset at this point for CMC-related reasons," analyst Laura Sutcliffe says. "We expect FDA to want resolution of any problems at third party sites before resubmission." ([email protected])

2250 GMT - Citi is slightly puzzled by the timing of pharmaceutical company CSL's CFO change. CSL says Joy Linton will step down as CFO on Oct. 7. She will be succeeded by Chief Strategy Officer Ken Lim and there will be a supporting transition period. "In our experience, major management change is unusual in the run-up to a big restructuring event like CSL's proposed spin-off of Seqirus, anticipated in 2H of FY 2026," analyst Laura Sutcliffe says. Citi assumes that Lim was heavily involved with the decision to spin off the vaccines business. It sees the personnel change as an opportunity for CSL to refresh goals and potentially higher-level strategy over time. Citi has a buy call and A$265.00/share price target on CSL, which ended Tuesday at A$198.20. ([email protected])

2244 GMT - Seven West Media's proposed merger with Southern Cross Media doesn't solve the problem of structural challenges in traditional media, Jefferies says. The deal creates some savings, estimated by the companies at up to A$30 million. But analyst Roger Samuel says the combined company's market value would be small at around A$400 million. "The combined entity will still only derive 12% of its total revenue from Digital," Jefferies says. "Nine Entertainment by comparison, derives 45% of its revenue from digital media, across Stan, 9Now and digital publishing, with a small contribution from digital audio." So, Jefferies continues to favor Nine among Australian broadcasters. ([email protected])

(END) Dow Jones Newswires