250 GMT - Sales at Duckhorn suggests that the wholesaler destocking that has affected Treasury Wine Estates could continue, UBS analyst Shaun Cousins writes in a note. He points out that Duckhorn lowered its annual revenue and earnings guidance from a previous range that assumed some improvement in levels of destocking by wholesalers. Cousins suggests that Duckhorn's increased caution suggests that Australia's Treasury Wine, which has already endured such customer behavior, may not see a reversal of recent trends just yet. UBS keeps a buy rating and A$14.00 target price on shares of Treasury Wine, which are down 0.65% at A$12.27. (stuart.condie@wsj.com)

0016 GMT - SRG Global's multiyear maintenance contract with BlueScope Steel seems to support Shaw & Partners analyst Philip Pepe's view that the stock is undervalued relative to engineering peers. With SRG having won A$500 million in contracts so far in FY 2024, Pepe forecasts it to grow annual Ebitda by 23% versus about 14% at comparable companies. He reckons that the stock is trading at about 4.4 times forecast FY 2024 Ebitda, compared with peers' average valuation multiple of about 6.2 times Ebitda. Shaw keeps a buy rating and A$1.20 target price on the stock, which is flat at A$0.77. (stuart.condie@wsj.com)

0002 GMT - Pilbara Minerals' recent supply deals somewhat address near-term concerns, but there are still plenty of reasons to be cautious about the stock, say Morgan Stanley analysts. In a note, the analysts say the miner's pursuit of a downstream strategy poses risks and that uncontracted tons remain an issue as projects ramp up. Recoveries are also a "work in progress" and if they don't improve as expected, that could push costs higher, the analysts say. They lift MS's target on the stock to A$3.30 from A$2.95, but keep an underweight rating. "PLS looks overvalued despite the asset quality," the analysts say. Pilbara Minerals is down 1.0% at A$3.98. (rhiannon.hoyle@wsj.com; @RhiannonHoyle)

2329 GMT - REA's larger-than-expected FY 2025 price rises could give property classifieds rival Domain an opportunity to similarly surprise the market, Citi analyst Siraj Ahmed writes. He tells clients in a note that REA raised prices by 11%, compared with his forecast of 10%. He currently forecasts a 7.5% increase by Domain, which has lost share of Australia's real-estate advertising market to REA, but now sees potential for the smaller operator to raise prices "a bit higher than our forecast." REA is 61% owned by News Corp, which owns Dow Jones & Co., publisher of this newswire and The Wall Street Journal. (stuart.condie@wsj.com)

2327 GMT - The outlook for CAR Group's U.S. unit is unchanged by lowered annual guidance at the owner of the Airstream trailer brand, Citi analyst Siraj Ahmed says. Thor Industries last week cut its annual sales and earnings guidance, but Ahmed tells clients in a note that there are positive as well as negative implications for CAR's Trader Interactive business. Ahmed points out that, while tough RV industry conditions could make dealer acquisition difficult, promotional activity by Thor to help independent dealers clear out prior-year inventory could boost retail demand. Citi has a neutral rating and A$34.70 target price on the stock, which is down 0.3% at A$36.175. (stuart.condie@wsj.com)

2326 GMT - After a challenging 2023 for the metals industry, Jefferies analysts "believe we are at the foothills of the next commodity cycle." They say in a note that there is early evidence of a recovery in global manufacturing PMIs and reckon a rally in copper, in particular, could happen sooner than envisaged, partly due to the resilience of the U.S. economy. The analysts reiterate a preference for copper producers over miners of iron ore, and highlight Anglo American and Glencore as two of their top picks due both to company specific factors and commodity mix. (rhiannon.hoyle@wsj.com; @RhiannonHoyle)

2249 GMT - Citi believes there are few instances where Woodside makes more sense than Santos in an equity portfolio. While both stocks likely have an air-pocket of news flow in the short term, Citi says there's currently a 20% difference in relative value that favors Santos. "Santos has stronger margins, lower 'full-stack' unit costs, a growing production profile, and better able to self-fund both capital returns and production growth," Citi says. "While Santos isn't necessarily catalyst rich, when Woodside's negative dividend/share momentum and portfolio issues become better understood, the relative valuation gap may close from funds switching." The bank is neutral-rated on Santos, and sell-rated on Woodside. (david.winning@wsj.com; @dwinningWSJ)

2242 GMT - Paladin Energy could benefit from any production guidance downgrade when uranium giant Kazatomprom reports its 2023 results on March 15, Citi analyst Paul McTaggart says in a note. Kazatomprom accounts for roughly 40% of U3O8 mined supply, "and hence its production announcements often move U3O8 prices," McTaggart notes. On the other hand, Paladin Energy's stock price is heavily influenced by moves in the U3O8 price. Kazatomprom has been grappling with sulphuric acid availability and ramp-up challenges that McTaggart reckons will make it hard for the miner to meet its 2025 production target. Citi has a buy rating and A$1.45 target on Paladin, which last traded at A$1.245. (rhiannon.hoyle@wsj.com; @RhiannonHoyle)

2233 GMT - GPT's stock typically underperforms those of its peers in 1H of each calendar year, with a positive bias to 2H leading up to its full-year results in February, according to Morgan Stanley. That seems to be happening again, with GPT's share price down around 4% since early February. MS highlights that GPT was the only Australian reit to cut its payout ratio during February, which could have driven some investors to sell its stock. MS says GPT is now trading at a 6% discount to its implied valuation, putting it near the midpoint of its typical +1% to -12% range. "But based on tradition, there is arguably potential downside risk rather than upside risk from here," analyst Simon Chan says in a note.(david.winning@wsj.com; @dwinningWSJ)

2224 GMT - Earnings skews for several Australian real-estate investment trusts stood out to Macquarie during last month's corporate results season. In a note, Macquarie points out that Dexus, Goodman and HMC Capital reported earnings with an unusually large skew toward 1H than usual. Meanwhile, Mirvac and Stockland require "a meaningful step up in earnings from active items in the 2H to meet FY 2024 forecasts," Macquarie says. Overall, Australian reits had more earnings beats than misses in the six months through December, Macquarie says. (david.winning@wsj.com; @dwinningWSJ)

2218 GMT - Macquarie believes there is a high probability of Nationwide Building Society's takeover of Virgin Money UK being completed, with a small chance of an improved offer. Nationwide has bid 220 pence a share to acquire Virgin Money UK, valuing the lender at around 2.9 billion pounds. In a note, Macquarie highlights that Virgin Money UK's London-listed shares rose to within 2.5% of the offer price soon after the deal was announced on Thursday. "This does suggest there could be further upside from a competing bidder," says Macquarie. "We aren't ruling this out with potential interested parties including Natwest, Santander UK and HSBC." However, Lloyds and Barclays would likely encounter anti-trust issues, Macquarie says. (david.winning@wsj.com; @dwinningWSJ)

2212 GMT - Atlas Arteria's dividend is not sustainable unless it wins a constitutional challenge against the French government's new tax on APRR and other toll road owners, Macquarie says. Atlas Arteria has signaled its dividend payout will return to match cash flow in the 2025 dividend year, which covers 2H of 2025 and 1H of 2026, Macquarie says. "Our base case is that Atlas Arteria does not win the constitutional challenge against the French government," Macquarie says. "Thus A$0.05/share is lost, and our new base dividend is A$0.375/share in 2025." (david.winning@wsj.com; @dwinningWSJ)

(END) Dow Jones Newswires