0321 GMT - Macquarie Technology looks fairly valued given the Australian telecommunications services provider's short- and long-term growth outlook, Goldman Sachs analyst Chris Gawler says. He tells clients in a note that the stock has re-rated over the past 12 months from 13 times Ebitda to 19 times Ebitda, on a one-year forward basis. Near-term valuation catalysts from data-center announcements appear to be largely in the past and there is little potential upside to market forecasts for the three years through fiscal 2026, he says. Goldman Sachs cuts its target price on the stock 3.0% to A$90.20 and lowers its recommendation to neutral from buy. Shares are down 0.8% at A$87.245. (stuart.condie@wsj.com)

0203 GMT - Elders loses its bull at Macquarie following its recent share-price bounce, with analysts at the investment bank seeing some weather-related risk to the company's outlook. Macquarie's analysts see potential for strong earnings growth in fiscal 2025, but first want to see the agricultural products and services provider deliver over 2H of fiscal 2024. They tell clients in a note that there is also some concern over dry conditions in Western Australia, South Australia and Victoria states, although conditions do look more positive elsewhere. Macquarie raises the stock's target price by 1.2% to A$8.35 and cuts its recommendation to neutral from outperform. Shares are up 1.3% at A$8.41. (stuart.condie@wsj.com)

0130 GMT - Telstra's removal of inflation-linked annual price rises on post-paid mobile contracts gives the telecommunications provider greater flexibility including to implement greater tariff increases, UBS analyst Lucy Huang says. She points out that TPG Telecom's Vodafone Australia pushed through above-CPI price rises earlier this year. Telstra's job and cost cuts were to be expected given its ongoing review of its networks solutions business, Huang adds in a note to clients. UBS has a last-published buy rating and A$4.40 target price on the stock, which is down 2.2% at A$3.59. (stuart.condie@wsj.com)

0107 GMT - Lendlease could target a buyer for its offshore construction business, says Citi, which speculates what the company's May 27 strategy update might look like. It highlights that a A$3.8 billion work backlog at the end of December was attributable to Lendlease's non-Australia construction business. "In a scenario analysis, based on our FY 2026 forecasts for construction business, we estimate the business could be worth more than A$300 million," analyst Suraj Nebhani says. That assumes A$30 million-A$35 million of net profit and a sale at a price-to-earnings multiple of 8.5-10x. Citi says the business would command a discount to peers' multiples, given its poor record of profits and lack of scale in global markets. (david.winning@wsj.com; @dwinningWSJ)

0101 GMT - Jewelry retailer Michael Hill International's profit warning costs it a bull in Citi. While sales growth of 4.7% in the first 45 weeks of FY 2024 was slightly ahead of forecast, Michael Hill's trading update pointed to Australian consumers paring spending. The core Michael Hill brand continues to see declining sales, and Bevilles has yet to meet the company's sales expectations following its acquisition last year. "Further, the absence of comments about any recent improvement makes us cautious on the outlook," analyst James Wang says in a note. "Ongoing gross margin weakness also raises questions around the effectiveness and sustainability of the brand elevation strategy." Citi downgrades Michael Hill to neutral from buy, and lowers its price target by 28% to A$0.66/share. Michael Hill is unchanged at A$0.48. (david.winning@wsj.com; @dwinningWSJ)

0051 GMT - Shares in Bendigo and Adelaide Bank now look fairly valued, after a positive reaction to the Australian lender's recent trading update, says Morningstar analyst Nathan Zaia in a note. The update, which was better than Morningstar was expecting, prompts the ratings company to lift its fiscal 2024 forecast for cash earnings after tax by 12% to A$558 million. "This would equate to a decline of just 3% from fiscal 2023," says Morningstar. It added, that despite competition for lending and deposits, Bendigo's net interest margin was resilient at 1.87% year to date, up from 1.83% at the end of December. For fiscal 2024, Morningstar expects the bank's NIM to fall by 4 basis points to 1.90%. (alice.uribe@wsj.com)

0049 GMT - Scentre's newest bull thinks the mall owner can fully redeem its outstanding subordinated notes without impacting credit ratings as they become callable. Scentre issued US$3.0 billion of subordinated notes in September 2020, half of which are callable in 2026 and the remainder in 2030. In a note, Macquarie says Scentre can likely manage its debt burden without needing to sell assets. "We estimate there may be 10% of upside to Funds From Operations with a significant portion of this being realized from 2026 as the first tranche of notes is called," says Macquarie, upgrading the stock to outperform, from neutral. (david.winning@wsj.com; @dwinningWSJ)

0044 GMT - Warehouse is searching for a new CEO, but Macquarie says it's highly questionable whether the retailer can get the leadership and strategic clarity to stage a big improvement in profitability. "Conceptually, if Warehouse under new management and board scrutiny, can gain clarity in its grocery strategy, optimize its store footprint and accelerate growth in core high-margin categories, Ebit upside seems considerable," says Macquarie. The bank says it's remiss to lay the entire blame for Warehouse's underperformance at the feet of outgoing CEO John Journee. Macquarie cuts its EPS forecasts for FY 2024 and FY 2025 by 50% and 17%, respectively.(david.winning@wsj.com; @dwinningWSJ)

0029 GMT - Building materials supplier James Hardie's share price drops 11% after its FY 2025 guidance misses the mark. James Hardie is projecting annual North American volumes of 2.95 billion-3.15 billion standard feet, and adjusted net income of US$630 million-US$700 million. "At the midpoint of its range, the company is guiding for North American volumes to be approximately flat year-over-year," says RBC Capital Markets analyst Matthew McKellar. Illustrating the miss to expectations, RBC had forecast North American volumes of 3.22 billion standard feet and net income of US$760 million. (david.winning@wsj.com; @dwinningWSJ)

0003 GMT - Even though there are many M&A opportunities in Australia from a volume perspective, Macquarie believes there is limited accretion for listed insurance brokers. In a note, they say insurance brokers are no longer driving market multiples. "Given this, we believe having public M&A targets may not be in a corporate's best interest over the medium term," says Macquarie. It notes that Steadfast, PSC Insurance and A.J. Gallagher have driven M&A in the Australian insurance broker market for the past decade, new entrants have led competition in recent years, and multiples for all targets continue to climb higher. (alice.uribe@wsj.com)

2350 GMT - Australian casino operator Star Entertainment has confirmed that it has been approached for M&A, but any potential transaction will likely be complex and conditional, say Macquarie analysts in a note, expecting that it will also rely on strategic value. The investment bank sees that as there are three key shareholders in Star that have around a 16% interest, any transaction may hinge on them. At the same time, while the company has attractive licenses which should create long-term value, by Macquarie's estimation, in the near term, there is low visibility on earnings and uncertainties on a long list of outstanding issues. Macquarie retains a neutral call on the stock. (alice.uribe@wsj.com)

2337 GMT - Investors will likely be concerned by how much James Hardie's selling, general and administrative--or SG&A--expenses have increased at the expense of near-term profitability, says Citi analyst Samuel Seow. "This may be the right long-term strategy to develop a brand/moat, however, it appears the lack of flexibility in spend will concern some investors," says Seow. The company's 4Q SG&A was US$164 million, or US$124 million after corporate costs, which is a 6% on-quarter increase versus what was already a record period, and a roughly 40% increase year-on-year, he says. Citi has a buy rating and A$63.00 target on James Hardie, which ended Monday at A$54.77. (rhiannon.hoyle@wsj.com; @RhiannonHoyle)

2252 GMT - Medibank's decision to top up its policyholder give back looks to have disproportionately skewed to AHM customers over Medibank-brand customers, Goldman Sachs analysts Julian Braganza and Brian Kim say in a note. AHM customers got A$55 million and Medibank A$35 more in this top up. Eligible customers include those holding a policy at end-September for AHM customers and end-June for Medibank customers. This suggests to the analysts that there is a focus on customer retention coming from the top up, particularly for AHM, perhaps to offset a period of anticipated competitive pressure through to September. "Medibank previously noted that claims savings were persisting through 2H FY 2024 versus revised lower expectations which foreshadowed scope for further give back," Goldman Sachs says. (alice.uribe@wsj.com)

(END) Dow Jones Newswires