0228 GMT - Accent Group's scale and exposure help keep Bell Potter analyst Chami Ratnapala positive on the Australian footwear and fashion retailer despite weaker-than-expected sales so far in FY 2024. She lowers her FY 2024 and FY 2025 revenue forecasts slightly to reflect softness in wholesale, though her Ebit forecasts fall by 6.5% and 6.0%, respectively, on lower leverage and narrowing margins. Ratnapala writes in a note that she still likes Accent Group as a sector pick, pointing to its scale and potential for exclusive partnerships with winning brands such as Hoka. Bell Potter cuts the target price by 6.0% to A$2.35 but keeps a buy rating on the stock. Shares are 2.5% higher at A$1.815. (stuart.condie@wsj.com)

0214 GMT - The prospect of Telstra raising its dividend in each of the next two fiscal years isn't enough to make Bell Potter analyst Chris Savage bullish on the stock. Initiating coverage of the Australian telecommunications provider with a hold rating, Savage writes in a note that he expects the company to raise its full-year payout to A$0.18 in fiscal 2024 from A$0.17 in fiscal 2023 and then to A$0.19 in fiscal 2025. This equates to a 4.7% yield, which he points out is similar to term deposit rates for the next six to 12 months. Bell Potter has a A$4.15 target price on the stock. Shares are down 0.5% at A$3.79. (stuart.condie@wsj.com)

0050 GMT - Universal Store keeps its overweight rating from Wilsons despite its analysts' conservative like-for-like sales forecasts. The Australian fashion retailer's sales have declined in-line with Wilsons' expectations so far in FY 2024, but the analysts raise their full-year earnings forecasts on better-than-expected margin and costs performance. They write in a note that improved recent sales momentum supports management commentary that July weakness was due to poor music festival attendance levels by its young customer base. Wilsons raises target price 4% to A$5.30. Shares are down 3.5% at A$3.34. (stuart.condie@wsj.com)

0000 GMT - Australian banks' FY 2024 earnings are likely to drop by around 4%-15% due to ongoing expense pressures coupled with slowing growth and the impact of competition, say Macquarie analysts in a note. This view comes after banks delivered their strongest earnings growth in a decade, with pre-provision profit growth of around 15%-19% in FY 2023, Macquarie notes, saying that "the excitement largely stopped in 1H FY 2023 as margins peaked, and 2H FY 2023 underlying trends were disappointing." Macquarie continues to see limited appeal in the Australian banking sector, despite solid credit quality trends currently, with declining earnings and risk to dividends. (alice.uribe@wsj.com)

2308 GMT - ASX's announcement that it had selected Tata Consultancy Services for its Chess replacement reduces strategic uncertainty, and with no immediate additional costs, Morgan Stanley thinks it's a modest positive for the stock. Still, in a note, the investment bank says it doesn't expect earnings per share to grow until FY 2026, and consequently sees better value elsewhere in financial stocks. At the same time, MS sees that ASX's costs will be higher for longer as implementation continues, adding that it also seems increasingly unlikely that ASX will derive any additional revenues from the Chess replacement, which may disappoint the bulls on the stock. (alice.uribe@wsj.com)

2306 GMT - Macquarie analysts turn bullish on Altium amid signs that the Australia-listed software provider is successfully monetizing its audience beyond printed-circuitboard designer users. They lift their recommendation to outperform from neutral, noting the US$1 million that Altium says it generated from the 38% of monthly active users that are not printed-circuitboard designers. The analysts point out in a note that this represents an expansion into a different engineering domain at the same customer, or new customers in new areas. Macquarie raises target price 27% to A$49.70 on Altium's improved competitive position and revenue momentum in enterprise. Shares were at A$44.58 ahead of the open. (stuart.condie@wsj.com)

2251 ET - ASX's announcement that it will use a product-based solution from Tata Consultancy Services to replace its Chess platform, is unlikely to face the same issues as TMX has had during its own implementation of a TCS product, Citi analysts say in a note. TMX, which runs the Toronto Stock Exchange, is currently implementing the product, as Citi says it understands TMX has experienced some implementation issues due to Covid and associated restrictions with TCS based in India. "However, as these seem to be largely due to Covid - there may be limited risk of repeat for ASX - projects of this nature always carry some such risk," Citi says. It stays neutral on ASX. (alice.uribe@wsj.com)

2243 ET - ASX's announcement that Tata Consultancy Services will provide a product-based solution for its Chess replacement removes significant uncertainty, but there is still a long way to go to bring the project to fruition, say Citi analysts in a note. The approach that ASX is taking by using TCS BaNCS for Market Infrastructure products seems lower risk than the original distributed ledger technology proposal, Citi says, but the investment bank still sees that the replacement project is several years away from implementation, and as a result, maintains its neutral call. On capital expenditure associated with the project, ASX looks to have moved away from its previous medium term capex guidance of this remaining "around FY 2024 levels." (alice.uribe@wsj.com)

0540 GMT - Universal Store's 6.4% decline in like-for-like sales across the start of its 2024 fiscal year is taken in stride by Citi analyst Sam Teeger, who sees no cause for alarm. He points out in a note to clients that the rate of decline has reduced since July and August, when sales suffered in comparison with a strong corresponding period a year earlier. Teeger acknowledges that it may be hard for the fashion retailer to hit his 1H sales forecast, with the necessary 2% sales increase over the remainder of the period looking challenging. Everything depends on the key trading period starting with Black Friday, he adds. Citi has a neutral rating and A$3.56 target price on the stock, which closed 3.3% higher at A$3.46. (stuart.condie@wsj.com)

0357 GMT - Domino's Pizza Enterprises gets bumped up to outperform from neutral by Macquarie analysts, who see an opportunity for the fast-food operator to expand margins through new product launches. They reckon that input costs have peaked and that products including fries covered in melted cheese represent a significant margin opportunity. They calculate that store Ebitda margins could rise to 9.0% from 8.5% if just 10% of garlic bread-buying customers swap to the so-called loaded fries. Macquarie lifts target price 7.4% to A$58.00. Shares are up 2.5% at A$53.51. (stuart.condie@wsj.com)

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

November 20, 2023 22:57 ET (03:57 GMT)