The latest Market Talks covering Equities. Published exclusively on Dow Jones Newswires throughout the day.

1934 ET - UBS downgrades Fonterra Shareholders' Fund to neutral from buy, as the dairy processor's recent capital return means there's less cream on top for investors. "We now believe FSF's core business is fairly valued," analyst Marcus Curley says. FSF is trading on a price-to-earnings ratio of 12x, in line with its long-run average, and a gross dividend yield of 7%. "This is against the backdrop of relatively stable underlying (ex-Mainland) earnings and milk costs in FY27," UBS says. FSF returned some NZ$3.2 billion to shareholders after completing the sale of its Mainland ingredients business in March. Its price target falls 19% to 7.50 New Zealand dollars a share, reflecting the removal of the NZ$2.00/share capital return. FSF is down 0.3% at NZ$7.20. ([email protected]; @dwinningWSJ)

1928 ET - Australian stocks look set to fall at the open after Iran launched a drone attack on Kuwait Airport following a skirmish with the U.S. ASX futures are down by almost 0.9% ahead of Thursday's session, suggesting the S&P/ASX 200 will follow the lead provided by U.S. indices. The DJIA shed 1.2%, the S&P 500 lost 0.7% and the Nasdaq Composite fell 0.9%. Ahead of the ASX open, Treasury Wine Estates said it would consolidate its California operations, divesting some wineries, as part of a move to cut A$100 million in costs and rebalance supply. ([email protected])

1916 ET [Dow Jones]--Supply issues are denting car parts retailer ARB's earnings outlook. Weak sales in key vehicle categories prompt Ord Minnett to downgrade its earnings forecasts for ARB by 4.2% in FY26 and by 3.6% for FY27. "ARB's calendar year-to-date sales remain below the prior corresponding period, impacted by inconsistent manufacturer supply and elevated fuel prices, which will weigh on demand for ARB's Australian Aftermarket operations in 2H26," says analyst James Casey. Still, Ord Minnett stays bullish about ARB. It views the longer-term outlook as positive, with new vehicles and products being released globally. Earnings growth will be fanned by new and renovated stores and further expansion overseas, the bank says. Its price target falls 10% to A$27.80/share. ARB ended Wednesday at A$18.64. ([email protected]; @dwinningWSJ)

1915 ET - A trio of stocks slid in after-hours trading despite posting better-than-expected results in their latest quarters, with some also raising their guidance. Value retailer Five Below had a blowout first quarter, reporting a surge in sales with broad-based growth. Profit also climbed and topped analyst expectations, and the company raised its full-year guidance, but the stock fell 13%. Broadcom had a similar decline after sales jumped 48% in its latest quarter, driven by growth in semiconductor revenue from AI due to increasing demand for custom AI accelerators and AI networking, according to the company. Crowdstrike, meanwhile, fell 10% after raising its revenue guidance for the year after swinging to a profit in the first quarter. ([email protected])

1904 ET - Fuel refiner and marketer Ampol is effectively conducting a share buyback by settling the equity component of its EG Australia acquisition in cash, says Macquarie. It says Ampol's decision is equivalent to a A$315 million buyback at A$34.28/share. In effect, Ampol is returning A$0.80/share to its shareholders. "There is signal in this," Macquarie says. It suggests a rising corporate valuation, which may capture the likelihood of policy reforms ahead. It also points to 2Q earnings momentum, given it implies Ampol's gearing would have otherwise slipped below its end-June target. Macquarie retains an "outperform" call on Ampol and raises its price target by 14%, to A$46.50/share. Ampol ended Wednesday at A$34.96. ([email protected]; @dwinningWSJ)

1851 ET [Dow Jones]--Engineering contractor SRG Global measures up well to ASX-listed rival Monadelphous, suggests Shaw & Partners. SRG yesterday disclosed several contract wins and a strong outlook statement. That leads analyst Philip Pepe to lift FY27 and FY28 EPS forecasts by 9.8% and 13%, respectively. Shaw expects SRG will achieve some A$200 million of Ebitda in FY27 and A$222 million in FY28. It notes consensus forecasts for Monadelphous are A$230 million and A$239 million, respectively. SRG is trading on an FY27 price-to-earnings ratio of 20.7x, Shaw says. That compares favorably to Monadelphous, which is trading on a FY27 price-to-earnings ratio of 24.0x. "Putting SRG on the same FY27 price-to-earnings ratio as Monadelphous implies a valuation of circa A$4.00 per share," Shaw says. SRG ended Wednesday at A$3.75. ([email protected]; @dwinningWSJ)

1606 ET - U.S. stocks lose ground as oil prices push higher on renewed tensions between the U.S and Iran. The pullback comes after all three major indexes hit fresh records for the fifth straight session Tuesday. ADP's private payrolls showed hiring remained solid last month, which could feed bets that the Fed will hike interest rates this year. SpaceX is expected to file updated paperwork this afternoon that will include its targeted share-price range for its highly anticipated IPO. DJIA drops 620 points, or 1.2%, to 50687, the S&P 500 loses 0.7% to 7553 and the Nasdaq declines 0.9% to 26853. ([email protected])

1542 ET - For the second time in nearly a year, Canada PM Mark Carney pulls back on tech policy from his predecessor, former PM Justin Trudeau, to assuage the Trump administration when it comes to trade. USTR Jamieson Greer had previously signaled that Canada's online-streaming rules posed a trade irritant that Washington wanted addressed as part of the USMCA renewal. Those calls intensified after Canada's broadcaster regulator toughened those rules further, increasing the financial obligations of US streamers like Netflix. The Carney government has ordered the regulator to revise its order, and intends to issue new policy priorities. In June of last year, Carney ditched the Trudeau-era digital-services tax after President Trump halted talks due to the digital levy. ([email protected]; @paulvieira)

1534 ET - Rogers Communications says it welcomes the "swift and decisive" action from Canada's Liberal government to order the country's broadcast regulator to revise its online-streaming decision. That decision would have increased the level of financial contributions from both online streamers and domestic, over-the-air broadcasters toward Canadian programming. Rogers said the streaming decision "would have introduced complicated and onerous new expenditure quotas with no meaningful relief to Canadian broadcasters." Rogers says the current media landscape that domestic broadcasters face requires a reduction "or the elimination of mandatory financial contributions and inflexible expenditure requirements." Those spending requirements are linked to Canadian programming for French-speaking, indigenous and other minority-language audiences. ([email protected]; @paulvieira)

1417 ET - Richelieu Hardware may be making the best of a bad housing situation. In a report, CIBC analyst Hamir Patel says, "Given a tough housing backdrop, we are increasingly comfortable with Richelieu's ability to deliver organic growth in a flat market." Patel says he's also encouraged by the company's 2030 sales goal of C$3 billion, "which demonstrates management's confidence in the business's organic growth and M&A prospects." Patel also says that management noted the pipeline is very healthy and sees the M&A cadence accelerating. ([email protected])

1400 ET - The lobby group representing US companies operating in Canada applauds the Liberal government's directive ordering the country's broadcasting regulator to rework its policy decision on online streaming. The American Chamber of Commerce in Canada says this will help "create the conditions necessary to advance a broader Canada-US trade agreement." The chamber has a keen interest in ensuring that talks between Washington and Ottawa on trade pick up steam and start heading down a more productive path. US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer had identified Canada's rules as a trade irritant. The broadcasting regulator's order last month to compel online streamers like Netflix to sharply increase their financial contributions toward Canadian programming triggered anger in Hollywood, and prompted fresh accusations of Canadian trade barriers from President Trump's chief envoy in Ottawa, Pete Hoekstra.([email protected]; @paulvieira)

1356 ET - Palo Alto Networks is weaker despite a strong F3Q print across all metrics, as investors weigh how much earnings power is really coming from its acquisitions of CyberArk and Chronosphere, Stifel says in a note. "While the stock initially surged 10%+ in after-hours on the print, shares came back down given a bigger beat on acquired assets and a skinnier organic beat (and the lack of an explicit organic/inorganic F4Q guide)," the analysts say. Still, they believe the results show outperformance across both parts of the business. Palo Alto drops 5.8%. ([email protected])

(END) Dow Jones Newswires