The S&P / ASX200 (ASX: XJO is 0.6% lower today after a couple of poor months over October and November as investors continue to worry about the impact of upcoming geopolitical risks such as Brexit or the ongoing trade dispute between the US and China.
However, there are a number of well known businesses jumping higher for differing reasons. Let's take a look at what may be behind the price action.
The Appen Ltd (ASX: WPL) share price is up 4.8% to $12.86 as the wild daily price swings suggest investors are struggling to value the business. On November 15 Appen upgraded its profit guidance for investors to expect underlying EBITDA between $62 million to $65 million for FY 2019. Appen currently has a market value around $1.306 billion, which means it trades on 20x its own forecasts for underlying EBITDA. This is expensive valuation and exciting growth potential contribute to the volatility in the share price.
The Coles Group Limited (ASX: COL) share price is up 2% to $13.09 today perhaps as investors react to a series of new broker ratings on the newly-minted supermarkets and bottle shop business. According to reports in the News Corp (ASX: NWS) press today Morgans Financial has put a hold rating and $12.50 share price target on Coles. Elsewhere, CLSA has taken a more positive view and put a $14.20 share price target on Coles. It may be this rating lending some buyer support to Coles shares today.
The Biotron Limited (ASX: BIT) share price is up 20% to 23 cents today, despite the speculative biotechnology and healthcare researcher releasing no specific news to the market.
Biotron is researching drugs that could help in the treatment of HIV, and it goes without saying that success in developing drugs to beat HIV could translate into huge profits. However, it remains a very speculative bet as it has no revenue and lost $606,000 for the quarter ending September 30, 2018. As at that time it also had just $896,000 cash in hand according to its 4c update. Around $6.7 million worth of shares have been traded today.
The Fisher & Paykel Healthcare Corp Ltd (ASX: FPH) share price is up 1.5% to $12.49 today after the sleep apnea treatment business posted a net profit up 20% to NZ$97 million for the financial half-year ending September 30, 2018. Revenues climbed 12% to NZ$511.3 million for the period. It guided to expect full year net profit between NZ$205 million to NZ$210 million on expected revenue around NZ$1.07 billion. This is a good result from a solid-looking healthcare business.
