0500 GMT - Treasury Wine Estates' success in restructuring its Americas division toward lower volumes and higher margins supports Macquarie analysts' confidence it can do something similar with its premium brands. They tell clients in a note that their analysis indicates that the Australian producer is generally delivering on its 2021 strategy of halving volumes and expanding earnings margins to 25% in the Americas by 2025. They reckon that Treasury Wine is now well placed to grow earnings despite declining volumes, although success depends on cost reduction and the continuing consumer trend toward premium brands. Macquarie trims the target price by 2.9% to A$13.50 and keeps an outperform rating on the stock, which is 1.7% lower at A$11.08. (stuart.condie@wsj.com)

0414 GMT - Investors appear too narrowly focused on CSL's Behring legacy business, at the expense of the newer growth opportunities that are showing potential, Morgan Stanley analysts say. They reckon that this lack of attention means there are potentially upside risks at this point, citing growth milestones with hemophilia treatment Hemgenix or increased adoption of patient-blood management practices as possible catalysts. They say in a note that these newer growth areas need to perform for CSL shares to emulate their historic outperformance of the broader Australian stock market. MS has an overweight rating and A$325.00 target on the stock, which is down 0.9% at A$265.30. (stuart.condie@wsj.com)

0104 GMT - Megaport's go-to-market strategy is yet to convince Macquarie's analysts despite the Australian technology company's positive 4Q free cashflow. They think that Megaport's shift to a direct sales strategy indicates the need for further investment for growth beyond FY 2024. These higher expenses drive cuts to their earnings forecasts for FY 2024, 2025 and 2026 by 1%, 26% and 30%, respectively. The impact is partially offset by higher revenues, they add. Macquarie stays neutral on the stock despite raising its target price 33% to A$12.00, underpinned by a discounted cashflow methodology. Shares are down 1.7% at A$10.44. (stuart.condie@wsj.com)

0058 GMT - Megaport keeps its buy rating from Goldman Sachs analysts, although they warn that they may end up cutting fiscal 2024 earnings forecasts if the Australian technology company increases investment in sales. The analysts tell clients in a note that Megaport's 4Q update was positive and that they expect improvements in pricing, customer churn and costs to annualize in fiscal 2024. They expect Megaport to raise its fiscal 2024 guidance to A$50 million-A$55 million from A$41 million-A$46 million. Additional investment could hit fiscal 2024 but benefit fiscal 2025, they add. GS lifts target price 14% to A$10.60 on higher earnings forecasts and increased earnings multiple in-line with peers. Shares are down 1.9% at A$10.42. (stuart.condie@wsj.com)

0058 GMT - Macquarie's weak 1Q FY 2024 performance could see full year net profit after tax fall by 23% compared to the previous year, says Goldman Sachs analysts Andrew Lyons and John Li in a note. Still, they say they remain optimistic on the business's medium-term outlook, which is well positioned to benefit from the decarbonization push globally and infrastructure investment needs. GS notes Macquarie's divisional guidance for its asset management and commodities units implies weaker outcomes versus the investment bank's prior FY 2024 NPAT forecasts. It stays neutral on the stock. (alice.uribe@wsj.com)

0032 GMT - Online retailer Temple & Webster's longer-term opportunities and ability to execute on strategy far outweigh those of its peers, Bell Potter analyst Chami Ratnapala says in a note. The ASX-listed company has outperformed its furniture and homewares peers over the past two months, Ratnapala says. She remains cautious on the short-term outlook and expects consumers to rein in spending on the category. She nonetheless reckons that Temple & Webster can grow revenue, which sat at A$426 million in fiscal 2022, by more than A$1 billion over the next five years. Bell Potter raises the target price 36% to A$6.40 and maintains a hold rating on the stock, which is up 1.6% at A$6.47. (stuart.condie@wsj.com)

0031 GMT - While Australian fund-managers' recent performance has been mixed, longer-term fund performance has been ahead of benchmarks, say Goldman Sachs analysts Julian Braganza and Brian Kim in a note. They reckon evidence suggests that active managers globally have tended to underperform benchmarks. "Globally, in aggregate, evidence suggests that passive funds are continuing to attract flows with active funds in net outflows stemming from passive funds having lower fees and benchmark tracking returns," says GS. It upgrades GQG to buy from neutral, and initiates coverage on Platinum with a sell call and Magellan with a neutral. Overall, GS sees growth options for the Aussie fund-manager sector partly due to pension fund flows. (alice.uribe@wsj.com)

0010 GMT - Fortescue's FY 2024 iron-ore shipment guidance of 192 million-197 million metric tons was lower than the 203 million that Macquarie had expected. "We note that guidance includes 7 [million tons] for Iron Bridge," its analysts say in a note. "Thus haematite guidance is 185-190 [million tons], which is lower than that in FY23." Cash-cost guidance of US$18-US$19/wet ton was slightly better than their forecast, they say. The analysts keep an underperform rating on the stock and trim their target 3% to A$16.70. Fortescue is down 2.1% in Sydney at A$22.44, adding to Thursday's 3.4% decline. (rhiannon.hoyle@wsj.com; @RhiannonHoyle)

2347 GMT - The likelihood that Computershare will announce some kind of capital return alongside its FY 2023 result makes the share-registry provider Citi's top pick among Australian diversified financial stocks. Citi's analysts say in a note that Computershare would probably prefer to deploy most excess funds on acquisitions but that they nonetheless expect some kind of capital initiative. They expect to see Computershare guide for FY 2024 EPS growth of 10%-12.5%, and say there's a chance it could upgrade its FY 2024 margin-income guidance. Citi has a buy rating and a A$25.90 target price on the stock, which was at A$25.12 ahead of the open. (stuart.condie@wsj.com)

2346 GMT - Regal Partner's proposal to acquire global multi-boutique asset management business Pacific Current Group will be a good strategic acquisition for the Australian investment manager, says Bell Potter analyst Marcus Barnard in a note. "We estimate that this acquisition should be around 5% accretive to Regal's earnings per share, based on an allpaper deal and at the share prices laid out in the proposal," he says. BP is waiting to see how Pacific Current's management responds to the proposal, and if there's a counter offer from GQG. BP says for this reason it retains its buy recommendation and A$3.68 target price on Regal. The stock last closed at A$2.58. (alice.uribe@wsj.com)

2323 GMT -- Perpetual's 4Q outflows are not over troubling given the current market backdrop, says Citi analyst Nigel Pittaway in a note. He adds that it's two mandate losses which looks to have caused around A$2 billion of its A$5.1 billion net outflows. "That said, with cost guidance also lifted slightly to around 40% growth, from 37-39%, it's hard to see 4Q as much of a positive catalyst for the stock," says Citi, adding that it reckons the stock remains expensive. Citi keeps its buy call and makes no change to its A$30.00/share target price. Perpetual was last down 1.5%, to A$25.90/share. (alice.uribe@wsj.com)

2312 GMT -- Macquarie's 1Q FY 2024 trading update commentary was softer than Citi was expecting, and the Australian financial-services company's revised FY 2024 expectations indicate a more difficult outlook, says the investment bank's analyst Brendan Sproules in a note. After the update, Citi lowers its FY 2024 net profit after tax estimates by around 6% to around A$4 billion, while leaving outer year forecasts largely unchanged. "Our FY2 204 expectations were already around 5% below consensus, suggesting larger consensus revisions than our 6% may be required," says Citi. It keeps its neutral call, noting that it's too early in the to be definitive on commodity volatility, adding that deal flow may recover as rates stabilize. "Nevertheless, it is hard to see a case for re-rating as expectations continue to be guided lower," adds Citi. (alice.uribe@wsj.com)

2245 GMT -- Insignia's MLC integration may be more complex and costly than it originally envisaged, says Citi analyst Nigel Pittaway in a note. But, he adds the additional cost savings are significant, and if they all flow through to earnings, the impact will be meaningful. Even so, Citi says "we believe there is scope for healthy skepticism as to whether all of these will benefit the bottom line and the extra one-off costs required to achieve them." The investment bank notes that Insignia suggests it can deliver around A$110 million more gross cost saves over and above the level previously expected by the market and Citi, adding that one-off costs could potentially see a statutory loss for the financial services company in FY 2024. (alice.uribe@wsj.com)

0911 ET - Crocs closed "another exceptional quarter of growth in China" which, coupled with its performance in Australia, drove revenue higher in the 2Q, CEO Andrew Rees says in a call with analysts. "We're incredibly excited by the cross brand momentum in China and are even more confident about the potential for the Crocs brand and the second largest market in the world," Rees says, while noting that revenue in Australia grew by triple digits in the latest quarter. In the Asia Pacific region, Crocs saw revenue jump by 39%. (sabela.ojea@wsj.com; @sabelaojeaguix)

0531 GMT - Rio Tinto posted mixed half-year results, including a miss to Ebitda forecast and lower dividends, but its key iron ore division came ahead, as the company pivots to focus on growth, RBC Capital Markets analyst Tyler Broda writes in a research note. The miss to RBC's 1H Ebitda forecast came largely from capital expenditure of the yet-to-be-finalized Simandou joint venture still being carried out as an expense, as the JV has yet to be finalized, Broda says. "Although Rio Tinto's balance sheet continues to stay strong and mergers and acquisitions could be an option, we think management feels comfortable with its current pipeline," the analyst says in regards to the mining major's focus pivots toward growth going forward. RBC rates the stock sector perform with a 5,100-pence price target. (christian.moess@wsj.com)

0520 GMT - Macquarie's mortgage growth slowed when it stepped back from competition, which included other lenders offering cashbacks, CEO Shemara Wikramanayake says. But those offers have started to abate, and Macquarie is back to being able to compete, particularly via its digital-banking offering, Wikramanayake says after the Australian financial company issued its 1Q FY 2024 results. Wikramanayake says Macquarie last year brought a lot of competition to the deposit market by offering higher rates, in an effort to grow its business. "That grew strongly, that has now turned around as others are competing more in the deposit market," she says. (alice.uribe@wsj.com)

(END) Dow Jones Newswires