Moneysupermarket.com (MONY) issued their preliminary results this morning. It was headlined “Return to profit growth and good progress on reinvent”. The results were much as forecast so far as I could see, although the outlook suggests some second half weighting for the current year. But the share price has jumped 18% today to 365p which is where I started buying some last June. But I got somewhat nervous when the share price subsequently consistently fell after an initial spurt upwards despite forecasts being positive.
The other significant news was that CEO Mark Lewis indicated he wished to step down yesterday “and pursue his career in a new direction” so the board has started a search for a replacement. This is rather surprising as he has not been there very long. More explanation as to why he is departing would have been helpful.
Price comparison businesses like Moneysupermarket still seem to be growing but clearly they are maturing somewhat. However on a prospective p/e of 17 (before today’s jump) and a dividend yield of 4.6% according to Stockopedia they surely looked good value.
The company does generate considerable cash with a good return on capital but most of the profits are paid out in dividends rather than used to generate growth or acquire complementary businesses. Is that the strategic issue that caused the CEO to depart I wonder? We may no doubt learn more in due course.
Otherwise the stock market seems to be ignoring the global trade threats such as the coronavirus outbreak in China and the US/China trade war, plus the possible risk of a failure of UK free trade talks with the EU. It’s one of those markets where almost everything is rising and investor are just buying everything that looks reasonable. I may have to go on a share buying strike until the market calms down as it seems somewhat irrational at present. Too much investor exuberance in summary.
Roger Lawson (Twitter: https://twitter.com/RogerWLawson )
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