The S&P/ASX 200 (Index: ^AXJO) (ASX:XJO) has slipped 0.1% today thanks to a mixed-bag of profit results and subdued offshore leads.
The gold and utilities sectors are the biggest underperformers today, with stronger contributions coming from the materials and consumer discretionary sectors.
Four shares that are enjoying a particularly positive day include:
Monadelphous Group Limited (ASX: MND)
The Monadelphous share price has surged more than 7.5% today, despite reporting a 24.1% decline in first-half profits. Although the infrastructure services company continues to battle tough conditions in the resources and energy markets, it did note that the environment is stabilising. This is probably bad news for the large number of short sellers who have targeted the shares recently and may be covering their positions today.
Greencross Limited (ASX: GXL)
The Greencross share price has spiked nearly 6% today after the veterinary company posted a solid half-year result. Pleasingly, like-for-like sales grew by 4.3% across the group and this led to a 14% increase in overall sales and a 7% increase in underlying earnings per share (EPS). Importantly, the positive sales momentum has continued into the first six weeks of the second-half, with like-for-like sales growth being maintained at 4.3%.
Adairs Ltd (ASX: ADH)
The Adairs share price has surged 8.5% today, despite the absence of any news from the company. The shares are usually quite illiquid but it appears someone has decided to take a large stake in the company with more than two million shares changing hands today. The manchester and homewares company shocked the market last November after issuing a massive profit downgrade. Since then, the shares have lost around 50% of their value.
Vocus Group Ltd (ASX: VOC)
The Vocus share price has risen 3.8% to $4.28 today, also on no news. The telecommunications company is set to report its earnings tomorrow and it will be one of the most eagerly awaited results of this profit season. Vocus has been plagued by a number of issues over the past six months including acquisition integration problems, a large management re-shuffle and concerns over the NBN. Investors will hope all of these issues will be addressed tomorrow which should help to destabilise the huge number of short sellers that have taken an interest in the company.
