0150 GMT - Monadelphous's project awards "are gaining momentum and finally crystallizing," says Citi analyst William Park after the engineering company won a major construction contract on a lithium project valued around A$160 million. The company has secured engineering and construction worth A$800 million since the start of FY 2023 and "we think momentum is likely to persist with other large imminent E&C opportunities (excluding sustaining capital works) in lithium and rare earths space," Park says. He estimates a potential pipeline in those commodities worth about A$1 billion-A$1.4 billion over the next two years. Monadelphous is up 0.2% at A$13.79/share. (rhiannon.hoyle@wsj.com; @RhiannonHoyle)

0047 GMT - ResMed investors are too bearish about the impact that demand for drugs to treat obesity will have on the maker of sleep-therapy devices, Macquarie says. ResMed's stock is down 26% over three months, which Macquarie believes is driven by concerns around GLP-1 drugs to treat obesity, given the established relationship between weight loss and reduced severity of sleep apnea. ResMed's current share price implies material uptake and continuation of GLP-1 treatment to FY 2033, Macquarie says in a note. "With real-world data showing high levels of discontinuation and weight regain, we see the potential impact on obstructive sleep apnea patient populations and growth for ResMed as overstated," says the bank, which retains an outperform call on the stock. (david.winning@wsj.com; @dwinningWSJ)

2322 GMT - For investors in CSL, the focus is on understanding how conservative FY 2024 guidance was struck and whether the underlying business can positively surprise, Jarden analyst Steve Wheen says. "Already Seqirus is showing some early signs of strength by securing additional market share for the next Northern Hemisphere flu season according to our channel checks," Jarden says. Margin tailwinds remain as recovering plasma collections drive efficiency, with collection costs per liter declining even before management moved to cut donor fees. Other boosts could come from additional manufacturing and more takeup of specialty products like Hemgenix. "With all these drivers for earnings it is hard to give up on the inherent upside in this stock despite the delays," Jarden says. (david.winning@wsj.com; @dwinningWSJ)

2307 GMT - After recently downgrading its forecasts for Coles's supermarket Ebit by 7%-11% over the next three years, Citi is wondering whether it has overcorrected. Citi currently expects no earnings growth from Coles in FY 2024 after assuming a weaker gross profit margin and higher costs. "However, by FY 2026 we assume the stock loss impact has normalized though costs remain much higher than our pre-result estimate," analyst Adrian Lemme says in a note. This indicates the earnings base is now more conservative, Citi says, with room for Coles to beat these expectations particularly as benefits from the company's new Witron distribution center in Queensland come through in FY 2025 and FY 2026. "This also gives Coles a better earnings growth outlook than Woolworths, despite trading on a much lower multiple," Citi says. (david.winning@wsj.com; @dwinningWSJ)

2249 GMT - Australian electronics retailer JB Hi-Fi can outperform expectations in FY 2024, Citi says. Consensus assumes a 9% spread between costs and sales growth, which is toward the most pessimistic end of retailers, analyst Adrian Lemme says in a note. "Moreover, significant forecast gross profit margin contraction may prove overdone given JB Hi-Fi's inventory to sales is tracking well below history when adjusting for The Good Guys acquisition." (david.winning@wsj.com; @dwinningWSJ)

2243 GMT - Investors may be too optimistic about the ability of Wesfarmers's Bunnings DIY chain to protect its profit margins amid economic uncertainty, Citi signals. In a note, analyst Adrian Lemme says expectations for Bunnings are far less conservative than for other retailers. "The market believes in the resilience of Bunnings sales and its ability to manage costs to trading conditions, with only 20 bps of margin decline forecast," Citi says. "However, we believe the risk is skewed to the downside given other quality businesses have much more significant margin deterioration factored in (150-500 bps)." Moreover, weather may prove a headwind in 2H of FY 2024, Citi says. (david.winning@wsj.com; @dwinningWSJ)

2232 GMT - Earnings guidance provided by engineering contractor DDH1 alongside its FY 2023 result is even better than it looks, Canaccord Genuity says. DDH1, which has agreed to a takeover by Perenti, signaled FY 2024 operating Ebitda of A$123 million-A$130 million. That compares to Canaccord's A$123.6 million forecast. "Optically, it looks like the result implies growth of 3-9%," analyst Cameron Bell says in a note. "But the FY 2023 result benefited from A$7 million in subsidy payments that will not be repeated, so the underlying growth implication is more like 9% to 16%." DDH1's shareholders are due to vote on the acquisition proposal from Perenti on Sept. 18. (david.winning@wsj.com; @dwinningWSJ)

2228 GMT - Jefferies raises its share-price target on Boss Energy by 34% to A$4.70, citing its bullish outlook for uranium markets. "We recognize that the stock has traded strongly, and valuation is not cheap," analyst Chris Drew says in a note. "However, we see uranium prices continuing to trade upwards, driving ongoing share price upside in our uranium coverage universe." Boss is looking to restart the Honeymoon uranium mine by the end of this year and says the project remains on time and on budget. Boss ended Thursday at A$4. (david.winning@wsj.com; @dwinningWSJ)

2213 GMT - Tailwinds are lessening for Australia's food retailers, says Jefferies in the aftermath of the August reporting season. Currently, food retailers are benefiting from continued inflation, particularly in more inelastic packaged goods, analyst Michael Simotas says in a note. But that could soon change. "We believe food inflation has peaked and in the absence of volume acceleration, it will become harder to offset Cost-of-Doing-Business inflation, which we expect to persist for longer," Jefferies says. It has hold calls on supermarket operators Coles and Woolworths. (david.winning@wsj.com; @dwinningWSJ)

(END) Dow Jones Newswires