Today marked a modest recovery for the S&P/ASX 200 (INDEXASX: ^AXJO)(ASX:XJO) index after days of heavy selling. While the ASX200 was up 0.85% to 4,900 points at the time of writing, many investors will likely find that their portfolios are still underwater.
These four companies significantly underperformed the market today, and here's why:
Monadelphous Group Limited (ASX: MND) fell 3.9% to $6.60 on no news as oil and gas prices fell overnight and China reported its slowest quarter of growth since 2009, at 6.8%. Fellow services companies Worleyparsons Limited (ASX: WOR) and Downer EDI Limited (ASX: DOW) also lost 3.4% and 4.7% respectively.
Services companies have remained optimistic about picking up additional work as major resource projects finish construction and move into the maintenance phase, although investors should be cautious that with commodity prices plummeting, producers could defer or reduce this kind of expenditure.
Admedus Ltd (ASX:AHZ) lost 1.6% to $0.61, taking its total loss for the year to 51%, according to data from Nabtrade and including the effects of the recent share consolidation. Investors have been growing impatient with the company's progress, despite a recent update from the company informing investors of the completion of its HSV-2 vaccine trial (results pending), growing revenues, and strong cash position.
Ultimately, there's no rushing these kinds of products and shareholders should expect to wait for positive developments for some time yet.
WHITEHAVEN COAL LIMITED (ASX: WHC) lost 5% to $0.46, possibly also as a result of China's GDP growth figures, which were released today – China is a major buyer of coal, and its demand affects prices for Whitehaven's key commodity. Despite the fall, Whitehaven's most recent quarterly report was positive, indicating it was achieving a 'cash margin' (before corporate costs) of $13 per tonne in the first half of 2016.
Interested investors should look to Whitehaven's upcoming half-year report, to be released on 5 February, for more information.
Select Harvests Limited (ASX:SHV) lost 5.9% to $6.05 as investors appear to be getting nervous about whether the price of almonds (Select Harvest's key crop) could be due for a correction after spot almond prices fell in recent times. Select management believes the price weakness is due to one-off events and should stabilise soon. In the same announcement, management informed investors last Thursday that they expected to report a higher profit in 2016 compared to the previous year.
The 7.6% unfranked dividend yield is sure to get some interested buyers taking a closer look at the company.
