Still soaring

Budget flyer easyJet (LSE: EZJ) has endured a torrid time in recent weeks, the stock losing 11% of its value since the start of the year. But the business was recently dealing 5% higher in Friday trade after releasing a fresh batch of bubbly passenger data.

The Luton airline advised that passenger numbers advanced 9.8% in February, to 4.93m, underlining the steady acceleration in traveller totals in recent months. On a 12-month rolling basis passenger demand advanced 7.5% through February.

With sales of budget tickets expected to keep on rising, and easyJet boosting the number of routes it operates to meet this demand, I reckon earnings at the firm should keep on flying higher.

This view is shared by the City, and the company is expected to enjoy a 7% earnings rise in the year to September 2016 alone, resulting in an exceptional P/E rating of 10 times. And a projected 59.7p per share dividend — yielding a substantial 4% — should attract the attention of savvy income hunters.

Plumbing new depths

Oil services play SeaEnergy (LSE: SEA) has also dominated the headlines in end-of-week trade, with the release of a bearish trading update sending its share value plunging 52% lower from Thursday’s close.

SeaEnergy reported that “trading conditions within the oil and gas industry have deteriorated further since the start of the year“, meaning that many projects due in the early part of 2016 have been booted to later in the year or possibly beyond.

Furthermore, the business advised that it is still “generating losses at current activity levels” despite rampant cost-cutting and divestments. Consequently SeaEnergy plans to assets like its ‘R2S Visual Asset Management’ division to continue trading beyond May without the need for additional funding.

Considering the poor state of SeaEnergy’s balance sheet, not to mention the remoteness of a sudden upturn in the oil and gas market, I believe shrewd stock pickers should resist the urge to go bargain hunting at the struggling services provider.

A tech terror

Payment processing specialists Monitise (LSE: MONI) has seen its share price gallop 36% higher in Friday trade, taking total gains since the start of March to 55%.  Even so, that still leaves it down 85% down since this time last year.

Monitise announced today that it was in early-stage discussions to hive off its Markco Media division. The business snapped up the operator of sites such as MyVoucherCodes.co.uk for a potential £55m just a couple of years ago.

Still, the news comes as relief to investors following the tech play disastrous trading update last month. Monitise advised that revenues slumped by a 21% between July and December, to £33.4m, while the impact of massive write-downs caused pre-tax operating losses to quadruple to £211.6m.

But the City is not expecting Monitise to turn a profit in the years to June 2016 or 2017, a huge disappointment for a firm with hot growth prospects just a few years ago.

With the business failing in its efforts to switch to a cloud-based model, and industry heavyweights like Apple and Google increasing their footprint in the mobile payments space, I do not expect things to improve at Monitise any time soon.

The post Should You Buy easyJet plc, Seaenergy PLC & Monitise Plc Today? appeared first on The Motley Fool UK.

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Royston Wild has no position in any shares mentioned. The Motley Fool UK owns shares of Monitise. We Fools don't all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors.

SeaEnergy

Oil services provider SeaEnergy (LSE: SEA) shocked the market with a poor trading update in midweek business, and traders have accordingly sent shares in the business shuttling 17% lower from Tuesday’s close.

The Aberdeen business underlined the fragile state of the oil market by forecasting a “significant loss” in 2015 due to sinking oil prices. SeaEnergy — which provides software and engineering services to oil producers — now expects revenues to clock in at between £2.6m and £2.8m this year, a sharp decline from sales of £7.4m last year.

In light of these pressures SeaEnergy has agreed a working capital funding package that will allow it to draw up to £1m over the next 12 months. On top of this, the business advised that it had handed over operational responsibility for the ships previously under its management — SeaEnergy had already announced plans to exit ship management by the close of the year.

On a more positive note SeaEnergy noted that it expects the loan, in addition to existing overdraft facilities and an expected uptick in its core ‘R2S’ — or ‘Return To Scene’ — remote rig maintenance planning division in 2016 to fund working capital requirements “for the foreseeable future.”

But given the strong possibility of further capex reductions across the oil industry as global crude inventories balloon, I believe SeaEnergy’s recovery hopes for next year are built on shaky foundations. Combined with a wafer-thin balance sheet, I believe cautious investors are best giving the services specialist short shrift.

Weatherly International

Likewise, dedicated copper miner Weatherly International (LSE: WTI) is also feeling the heat from worsening supply/demand dynamics across commodity markets, and the business was last dealing 22% lower on Wednesday.

Weatherly advised that production of 1,361 tonnes of copper cathode in October was produced at a cost of $4,361. This has caused massive problems as, with red metal prices currently languishing at six-and-a-half-year troughs, the company advised that “the Tschudi mine is not making sufficient operating cash for the service of its debt facility.”

Weatherly subsequently advised that it has deferred a loan repayment to its biggest shareholder and lender, Orion Mine Finance, which had been due at the end of the month. Weatherly added that final details surrounding these amended loans are yet to be hammered out.

With nameplate production at its Namibian asset expected to hit 1,400 tonnes by the end of the quarter, Weatherly said that it expects operating costs to fall accordingly. Still, given the precarious state of the copper market — forecasts for the bellwether material to hit $4,000 per tonne are steadily growing — and questions remaining over Weatherly’s final loan agreements, I believe the mining operator is a risk too far at the present time.

The post Should You Buy Seaenergy PLC & Weatherly International plc On Wednesday? appeared first on The Motley Fool UK.

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Royston Wild has no position in any shares mentioned. The Motley Fool UK has no position in any of the shares mentioned. We Fools don't all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors.