It hasn't been a good day on the market today for many stocks, with the S&P/ASX 300 (Index: ^AXKO) (ASX: XKO) down 0.5% at 5,422.7.
That's not quite as bad as the S&P/ASX SMALL ORDINARIES (index: ^AXSO) (ASX: XSO) – which has dropped 1.6% today, although the index (made up of the Top 101 to 300 stocks) is still up 12% since the start of the year.
These four companies have seen their share prices sink even more today as an underlying theme evaporates.
Macquarie Atlas Roads Limited (ASX: MQA) share price has dropped 4.9% to $4.64. Infrastructure companies have been one of the key places investors have bought into over the past few years for their security, defensive qualities and of course their yields. The problem now is that the next move in interest rates in the US is highly likely to be up, and the same may well play out in Australia. For companies like Macquarie Atlas with billions of dollars of debt, interest costs are going to rise, earnings fall and those yields are likely to come down rapidly.
Transurban Group (ASX: TCL) share price fell 3.4% to $10.77. The toll road operator had seen its share price rise as high as $12.65 in the past year and has doubled since October 2011. But Transurban faces the same issues as Macquarie Atlas, including the risk of higher interest rates. At today's share price, Transurban's yield has also dropped to just 4.2% slightly franked (15.5%) – not especially attractive.
DEXUS Property Group (ASX: DXS) share price slipped 4.2% to $8.77. DEXUS is a diversified real estate company with most of its assets in the Sydney Office market, but there are concerns rising that Australia's A-REITs and real estate companies are overpriced based on a net tangible assets (NTA) basis – Dexus' is $7.53 per share. Once the primary go-to sector for yield, dividends are now relatively low and unattractive and DEXUS sports an unfranked yield of 4.9%. You might see why investors are selling out.
Shopping Cntrs Austrls Prprty Gp Re Ltd (ASX: SCP) share price dropped 3.5% to $2.18. The A-REIT owns a bunch of shopping centres around Australia as we outlined a few weeks ago. Like other A-REITs, Shopping Centres Australia trades well above its NTA value – last given at $1.92, and pays a yield of 5.5% unfranked. The price could come under more selling pressure in the immediate future.
