The FY25 reporting season is now in full swing with leading Aussie companies unveiling their results from an eventful year.
On Monday, after the market closed, ASX 200 industrials stock Computershare Ltd (ASX: CPU) released its FY25 numbers.
Unfortunately, investors didn't respond warmly.
Computershare shares fell by 3.8% on Tuesday to close out the day at $39.75 per share.
But what does renowned investment house Macquarie Group Ltd (ASX: MQG) make of the results?
Before finding out, let's first see how the year played out for the company.
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FY25 results in focus
Computershare pointed to a strong set of numbers in FY25, driven by growth across all its business units.
As a brief background, the company splits its operations into three divisions: issuer services, corporate trust, and employee share plans.
Each of these divisions delivered growth in revenue and operating earnings (EBIT) in FY25.
However, the group reports its revenue according to three segments: client fee revenue, event and transactional revenue, and margin income.
Its dominant client fee revenue lifted by 4.3% from the previous year to reach US$1.64 billion.
Event and transactional fee revenue hit US$711 million after rising by 13.6% year-on-year.
And margin income revenue clock in at US$759 million – beating expectations despite recording a 2.8% decline from twelve months prior.
As a result, total revenue of US$3.1 billion grew by 4.4% excluding the US Mortgage Services business which was sold in May last year.
Operating earnings (EBIT) excluding margin income jumped by 17.4% to US$411.9 million.
Return on invested capital (ROIC) of 35.8% was also up by 50 basis points.
Computershare declared a final unfranked dividend for FY25 of 48 cents per share – up by 14.3% on the prior year.
And looking ahead, the company hinted at an upbeat FY26.
It expects another year of positive earnings growth with earnings per share (EPS) projected to come in at around 140 cents per share – up by 4% on FY25.
Macquarie has its say on Computershare shares
Macquarie pointed to a muted environment in the broader mergers and acquisitions (M&A) market which could be impacting Computershare's performance.
It cited a slightly smaller than expect dividend, the absence of a special dividend, and the conclusion of the group's share buyback program for its viewpoint.
It also noted that the second half of FY25 performance in the issuer services division surpassed its expectations. However, this was offset by higher operating expenses.
That said, Macquarie sees the company's balance sheet as "remarkably strong".
And overall, the broker believes Computershare shares are fairly valued at current levels.
It has maintained a neutral rating with a 12-month target of $37.50 per share, implying more than 6% downside from $40.16 at the time of writing.
Notably, Macquarie sees the upcoming annual general meeting (AGM) in November as a potential catalyst for the company's share price.
Here, a trading update is expected to shed more light on the debt and equity market and any improvements in transaction volumes that may be materialising.
A positive update could prompt Macquarie to take a more bullish stance.
