Last week earnings season moved up a gear with a large number of popular companies releasing their latest sets of results.
Three results that caught my eye are summarised below. Here's why I think they were among the best results last week:
Commonwealth Bank of Australia (ASX: CBA)
I thought Commonwealth Bank of Australia's half year result was one of the strongest results from last week all things considered. For the six months ended December 31, Australia's largest bank delivered cash earnings of $4,477 million. This may have been a 4.3% reduction on the prior corresponding period but was higher than the consensus estimate of $4,405 million. The bank finished the period with a group net interest margin of 2.11% and a CET1 capital ratio of 11.7%. This balance sheet strength allowed Commonwealth Bank to maintain its fully franked 200 cents per share interim dividend.
IDP Education Ltd (ASX: IEL)
Arguably the strongest result from last week came out of this student placement and language testing company. IDP Education delivered revenue of $379 million and EBITDA of $106.2 million during the first half of FY 2020. This was a 25% and 53% increase, respectively, over the prior corresponding period. A key driver of this strong performance was its Student Placement segment, which posted a 35% increase in revenue to $122.6 million. This was supported by strong revenue growth in the key English Language Testing segment. It recorded a 21% lift in revenue to $215.3 million. Pleasingly, management appears confident on the future and advised that the coronavirus outbreak was not having a meaningful impact on its business at this point.
JB Hi-Fi Limited (ASX: JBH)
Another strong result came from this retail giant. During the first half of FY 2020, JB Hi-Fi delivered a 3.9% increase in total sales to $4 billion. This was driven by positive comparable sales growth across all three of its divisions. The company's profits grew at an even quicker rate thanks to a combination of good cost control and lower depreciation. Earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) climbed 8% to $255.6 million. This was ahead of the consensus estimate for EBIT of $244 million. Another positive was that this strong half led to management upgrading its guidance for the full year. It now expects FY 2020 total sales to be ~$7.33 billion, up from its previous guidance of ~$7.25 billion. Net profit after tax, pre application of AASB 16, is expected to be in the range of $265 million to $270 million. This represents an increase of 6.1% to 8.1% on the prior corresponding period.
