2202 GMT - Reliance Worldwide's stock is likely to underperform today as soft annual guidance overshadows a small 1H earnings beat, suggests Barrenjoey. Reliance reported 1H operating earnings of A$142.8 million, but said underlying sales growth of 5.4% in the Americas was partly due to the pull-forward of demand from 2H. Analyst Brook Campbell-Crawford says this will be a focus of conversations with management, along with weaker 1H sales in Europe, Middle East and Africa. "We believe guidance implies low single digit-mid single digit downgrades to consensus FY 2025 EPS," Barrenjoey says. "We expect the stock to underperform on a softer outlook, albeit sell-side top line estimates for 2H were optimistic." Reliance ended Monday at A$5.37. (david.winning@wsj.com; @dwinningWSJ)
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
February 17, 2025 17:02 ET (22:02 GMT)
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