Today I am running the rule over three FTSE-quoted fallers.
Game over?
Another financial update, another opportunity for video game emporium Game Digital (LSE: GMD) to disappoint the market.
The retailer was recently dealing 11% lower on Wednesday after advising that revenues slipped 6.3% during August-September, a result that prompted pre-tax profits to collapse 32.2% to £22.5m. As a consequence Game Digital slashed the interim dividend by more than three-quarters, to 1.67p per share.
Game Digital has seen its share value slump 45% since the time of December’s profit warning, and it’s difficult to see the company recovering any time soon as it battles fierce competition and the structural decline in console demand.
The City expects Game Digital to record a 52% earnings decline in the year to July 2017, resulting in a P/E rating of 14.7 times. I reckon this is far too high given the firm’s high risk profile, while I expect fresh earnings downgrades to materialise in the near future.
Sales slumping
Like Game Digital, I believe oil services provider Lamprell (LSE: LAM) is also a poor choice for shrewd investors, because of to its equally perilous revenues outlook.
The rig-builder advised on Wednesday that “challenging market environment [are] expected to affect the industry throughout 2016,” adding that revenues are expected to slip 5% from current levels. The market responded by sending shares in the business 4% lower from Tuesday’s close.
Lamprell saw the top-line erode by a fifth in 2015, it noted, a result that sent post-tax profit hurtling 29% lower to £67m.
Much has been made of Brent crude’s 50% rise from January’s multi-year troughs below $28 per barrel. But with Chinese economic cooling intensifying, and the market still desperately awaiting co-ordinated output cuts, I believe a swift reversal is more than possible.
The City expects Lamprell to chalk up a 14% bottom-line slide in 2016, resulting in a P/E rating of 9 times. Sure, this figure is attractive on paper, but I believe the strong possibility of further colossal capex cuts across the oil industry still makes Lamprell a risk too far.
Commodities concern
A poor outlook for commodities markets also makes Anglo American (LSE: AAL) an unattractive share bet, in my opinion.
A bouncing iron ore price — by some distance Anglo American’s most important market — has helped the diversified miner surge back above the 550p marker this month from January’s troughs around 220p per share.
But a 3% stock price decline in Wednesday trading underlines the fear creeping back into the commodities sector, and I reckon shares in Anglo American have much further to fall as supply/demand balances worsen across key markets.
The number crunchers expect Anglo American to suffer a fifth straight earnings decline in 2016, a projected 51% fall leaving the business dealing on a massive P/E rating of 31 times. This is far too high given the company’s massive risk profile, and I expect a heavy retracement to set in sooner rather than later.
