Welcome to Thursday, Foolish readers. The S&P/ASX 200 (INDEXASX: ^AXJO) (ASX: XJO) was on a tear today, rising 2% to 4984 points. This takes the total week's rise to above 3% and erases most of the falls earlier this month.
A number of shares significantly underperformed however, and here's why:
Estia Health Ltd (ASX: EHE) lost 11% to $5.65 after the company released its interim results to the market this morning. A decent set of results that showed Estia has made the leap to profitability. However, today's announcement took some of the wind out of Estia's valuation. Just like last year, I note again that Estia touts its underlying profit of $23m as the main event in its investor presentation, without clarifying that it is an underlying figure and excludes significant items. There's nothing wrong with consistency, but investors should be aware of the company's tendency to focus on the prettiest numbers.
Estia shares are up 10% in past 12 months.
Arrium Ltd (ASX: ARI) crashed 45% to $0.026, and appears to be on the ropes following its results earlier this week. At the moment, Arrium's future appears to depend on the value of iron ore as well as the company's ability to cut costs and the goodwill of its financiers. Unfortunately, in an oversupplied and highly-competitive market, Arrium appears to be outmatched by the bigger producers BHP, Rio Tinto, and Fortescue.
Arrium shares are down 88% in the past 12 months.
RCR Tomlinson Limited (ASX: RCR) shares slumped 22% to $1.25 today as the company feels some of the fallout from the same resources crash that has hit Arrium. There's now a surfeit of mining services companies in Australia and not enough work to go around, which is hitting revenues and margins. Indeed in its results today, revenues fell 12% while Earnings Before Interest and Tax (EBIT) margins fell 43%. Unfortunately the amount of work available for the company in the future is partly out of its control, and is a function of demand for resources from the companies it serves.
RCR Tomlinson shares are down 40% in past 12 months.
Reckon Limited (ASX: RKN) fell 9% to $1.64 after the company released its preliminary final report to the market this morning. While revenues rose 4%, Net Profit After Tax was down 14% as a result of costs incurred in establishing new products in various markets. Limited revenue in those markets resulted in an overall impact to profitability. Revenue growth across many lines was strong, although Reckon faces heavy competition from a number of larger players in its chosen market.
Reckon shares are down 18% in the past 12 months.
