August Results: Anticipation & Trepidation
Prima facie, Australian shareholders have plenty of reasons to feel excited ahead of the upcoming August results season.
Most companies have recovered more quickly than forecast from last year's lockdowns and pandemic, and profits and dividends are in a strong uptrend with Macquarie analysts observing consensus forecasts in Australia are now in their 11th consecutive month of upgrades, and expectations are building there's more of the same on the horizon.
February was on most market analysts' assessment one of the best local results seasons ever. Corporate Australia not only delivered strong recoveries in profits and dividends, but -uncharacteristically for Australia- it also handsomely beat analysts' forecasts, even though they had been lifting for multiple months already.