It hasn't been a great day for the Endeavour Group Ltd (ASX: EDV) share price so far this Wednesday. At the time of writing, Endeavour shares have fallen by a nasty 1.83%, down to $6.96 each. That's even worse than the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO), which is presently down by a far tamer 1% to 7,356 points.
But even after this drop, shares in the alcohol retailer and hotels operator remain well above where they closed at last week ($6.82 a share). Investors were mightily impressed with the earnings report the company delivered on Monday, it seems.
As we covered at the time, Endeavour delivered its earnings results for the FY2023 half-year ending 31 December 2022 on Monday.
It was objectively a stellar earnings report. Endeavour announced a 17% rise in after-tax profits to $364 million, while sales rose by 2.5% to $6.5 billion. Earnings per share (EPS) was also up, by 16.7% to 20.3 cents This enabled Endeavour to boost its interim dividend by 14.4% over last year to 14.3 cents per share.
Monday saw the Endeavour share price rise 4.11% on these earnings, but the company has pulled back slightly over yesterday and so far today:
So with these latest earnings in full view, many investors might be wondering if the company's shares are worth buying today.
Are Endeavour shares a post-earnings buy today?
Well, one ASX expert who thinks the shares are looking tempting is broker Morgans. As we covered earlier this week, Morgans liked what it saw in the company's earnings report.
The broker has upgraded its rating on Endeavour to a buy, with an upped 12-month share price target of $7.80. If realised, this would result in a further upside of more than 12% over the coming year.
Morgans liked that Endeavour's earnings were well ahead of expectations, and singled out the company's retail margins as a positive point:
The result highlighted management's ability to control costs despite inflationary pressures… While the regulatory environment remains uncertain, on balance, we think the risks lie to the upside with the underlying business performing well.
So this ASX broker is one expert who clearly reckons the Endeavour share price is worth buying today. We'll have to see what the next 12 months and beyond holds in store for the company.
At the current Endeavour share price, this ASX 200 consumer staples stock has a market capitalisation of $12.46 billion, with a trailing dividend yield of 2.21%.
