Stocks to watch: FBU, IFT, PPG, SKT, TEL

Stocks to watch: FBU, IFT, PPG, SKT, TEL

July 12 (BusinessDesk) – The following stocks may be active on the New Zealand exchange after developments since the close of trading. All prices are in New Zealand dollars unless specified.

Themes of the day: Wall Street rounded out is biggest weekly gain this year amid speculation companies are set to post robust second-quarter earnings, lifting the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index by 5.4%. Locally, data out this week includes retail sales for May on Wednesday and the consumer price index for the second quarter, due on Friday. Property values eased for a second month in June, according to QV Valuations. Values were 5.2% higher than the same month in 2009, retreating from the year-on-year gain of 5.6% in May.

Fletcher Building (FBU): The construction company is rated ‘outperform’ by First NZ Capital analyst Kar Yue Yeo, according to ShareChat. Fletcher is leveraged to the New Zealand building recovery though there may be a six-month plateau, he said. "We remain comfortable that weakness in Fletcher's stock price represents a buying opportunity on a 12-month view," he said. The shares were unchanged at $7.75 on Friday, compared to his 12-month target price of $9.50.

Infratil Ltd. (IFT): The investment group appointed former London City Airport executive Charles Buchanan to be head of Kent International Airport after the departure of former chief executive Matt Clarke.

Postie Plus Group (PPG): Jan Cameron, the cashed-up founder of the Kathmandu chain, increased her holding in clothing chain Postie Plus to 19.2% from 17.8%. The shares climbed 6.7% to 32 cents on Friday.

Sky Network Television Ltd. (SKT): New Zealand’s largest pay TV operator on Friday announced that it had acquired outside broadcast operator OnSite Broadcasting (NZ) Ltd. from Prime Media Group of Australia for $13.5 million. The stock rose 1.7% to $4.72 on Friday.

Telecom Corp. (TEL): The phone company reached a $1.7 million settlement with the Commerce Commission over three loyalty offers from its wholesale unit that were deemed likely to breach its operational separation undertaking. Each breach could potentially have incurred a fine of $10 million. The shares rose 2.7% to $1.87 on Friday.

(BusinessDesk)

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