It will be a big month for Australian investors in February. That's because earnings season is just about to begin.
Ahead of its start, the team at Goldman Sachs has been picking out a number of ASX 200 stocks that could surprise to the upside during the month.
Here are seven stocks to watch in February:
Goldman thinks that appliance manufacturer Breville could outperform expectations with its half year results. It said:
In our 1H25 consumer/retail preview published last week, we highlighted BRG as one of our key Buy ideas into the upcoming results, on sales-led positive growth as well as continued secular growth in the global coffee premium industry.
The broker is forecasting sales and EBIT growth of ~9.2% over the prior corresponding period.
Metal detector company Codan is another ASX 200 stock that is being tipped to outperform. It said:
[G]iven performance to-date of recently acquired operations, Codan's strong track record of acquisition integration and a continuing favorable demand environment, we see upside risks to both GSe and consensus Comms estimates.
Goldman also believes that alternative investment company HMC Capital could surprise to the upside with its results this month.
Its analysts notes that "HMC's performance YTD suggested its pre-tax EPS was run-rating materially above prior expectations and management attributed this major step-up in earnings to the outperformance of HMC Capital Partners Fund 1."
This gold mining giant could be another ASX 200 stock outperforming expectations this month according to the broker. It said:
Newmont is set up for a strong end to CY24. 2025 was soft guided at the group level minimising guidance risk. We expect a positive growth outlook vs local and global peers.
Goldman believes this media giant is destined to deliver a strong second quarter update later this month. It said:
We expect News Corp to report a strong 2Q25 result, noting that the average Q2 EBITDA mix for the last 5yrs has been 33.4%, compared to GSe 29.4% and Visible Alpha Consensus Data 29.1%. We forecast for Q2 EBITDA growth of 8% (continuing operations basis).
Insurance giant QBE could surprise to the upside with its COR guidance for the year ahead according to Goldman Sachs. Its analysts said:
For FY25, we expect COR of 92.5% vs. consensus of 92.8% (Visible Alpha Consensus Data). While we think operating trends suggest that a lower COR may be possible, we suspect that 92.5% will strike the right balance between bridging expectations for ongoing underlying earnings improvement while managing targets for resilience in context of risks within the business.
Finally, Worley could be an ASX 200 stock to positively surprise this month. So, with its shares trading on subdued multiples, the broker feels that a re-rating could be on the cards. It explains:
WOR is currently trading at 11.1x consensus EBIT (10.6x GSe). This represents a 13% discount to market and a 2% discount to global peers (vs a 10yr average of -3% and +2%). Therefore, we believe the share price is implying earnings well below both GSe and consensus forecasts.
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