5 ASX stocks sinking today

S&P/ASX 300 (Indexasx: XKO) (ASX: XKO) closes up just 0.1%, as late fall eats most of days gains

Mike King

Mike King is a Fool.com.au Investment Analyst and Writer. He caught the investing bug more than a decade ago, at a time when the U.S. had invaded Iraq and fear reigned in the markets. His initial success as the markets took off encouraged his passion and thirst for knowledge. With 13 years behind him at one of Australia's largest domestic banks, Mike's passion for stocks led him to join a boutique funds management firm, where he stayed for four years. A seven-year stint in equity research at one of the largest investment banks in the world followed that, giving Mike a thirst to pursue his passion further. Mike holds a Diploma in Applied Finance and Investment and a Graduate Certificate in Financial Planning. His passion is to help retail investors invest better, and that passion was one of his primary reasons for joining The Motley Fool Australia in late 2011. Mike has written thousands of articles since joining, including for Fairfax Media, Yahoo!7, Ninemsn and has also appeared on ABC's The Business. You can see all of Mikes' holdings here

Published August 13, 2015 4:34 pm AEST

The S&P/ASX 300 (Indexasx: XKO) (ASX: XKO) has closed up just 0.1%, with many of Australia's top 20 companies posting positive gains today.

In the best performing sectors, gold has surged 4% while energy gained 2.5% and resources jumped 2% higher.

That wasn't the same news for these five stocks, which were heavily sold off…

STW Communications Group Ltd. (ASX: SGN) share price crashed 16.9% to $0.59. The advertising and media group today reported a 22.5% fall in underlying net profit and similar fall sin earnings per share for the half year to June 2015. One-off impairment and other costs saw the company report a $73.4 million loss, but STW still declared a 2.1 cent dividend per share, fully franked. STW says it expects a much-improved second half.

GBST Holdings Limited (ASX: GBT) share price has fallen 8.4% to $4.90. Yesterday, shares in GBST soared in early trading after posting a strong rise in net profit of 52% on a 16% increase in revenues. GBST develops software for use in wealth management and also has a capital markets division. At current prices, GBST is trading on a trailing P/E of 17.1x, and paying a 2% dividend yield. Investors are likely disappointed by yesterday's results, but if it can sustain that type of growth, today's price may well be cheap.

Site Group International Ltd (ASX: SIT) share price has dropped 7.4% to $0.25, and is now down more than 12% in the past two days – despite no news from the company. Site Group provides training for employer sponsored candidates in the mining, processing, oil, gas and construction industries. Shares are fairly illiquid, so Site Group's share price can bounce around on relatively small trading volumes.

Prime Media Group Limited (ASX: PRT) share price has sunk 6.5% to $0.58. Shares are now down 36% since the start of the year, as free-to-air networks come under pressure from streaming and subscription video on demand (SVOD) services such as Netflix. Prime is associated with Seven West Media Limited (ASX: SWM) and carries the Channel 7 broadcast into regional areas around Australia.

Codan Limited (ASX: CDA) has dropped 6.4% to $1.10, despite no news from the company. The maker of metal detectors was upbeat when it reported its first half results in February of this year, predicting future growth and a stronger second half. But since that time, the gold price has dropped and appears in danger of dropping even further. Demand for metal detectors tends to drop off when the gold price falls.

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