Ann: A$200m institutional placement to expand US capacity, page-11

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Wednesday, 12 March 2025

ASB - AUSTAL LIMITED

Macquarie rates ASB as Outperform (1) - Macquarie points to a $200m institutional placement and a $20m share purchase plan announced by Austal to fund the final assembly infrastructure expansion of around US$300m.

The capital raising is priced at $3.80 per share, a -15.8% discount to the March 10 share price, and the placement of around 52.6m shares represents approximately 14.5% of issued share capital, the broker explains.

Management retained guidance for earnings before interest and tax of over $80m. Construction of the infrastructure began in July 2024 and is due to be operational by FY26, with completion in FY27.

Accounting for the increase in shares, Macquarie lowers EPS estimates by -4% for FY25 and -17% for FY26. Target price slips -7% to $4.75 from $5.10.

Target price is $4.75 Current Price is $4.40 Difference: $0.35 If ASB meets the Macquarie target it will return approximately 8% (excluding dividends, fees and charges). Current consensus price target is $4.58, suggesting upside of 1.9%(ex-dividends)The company's fiscal year ends in June.

Forecast for FY25:

Macquarie forecasts a full year FY25 dividend of 0.00 cents and EPS of 14.20 cents . At the last closing share price the stock's estimated Price to Earnings Ratio (PER) is 30.99. How do these forecasts compare to market consensus projections?

Current consensus EPS estimate is 14.6, implying annual growth of 256.1%. Current consensus DPS estimate is N/A, implying a prospective dividend yield of N/A. Current consensus EPS estimate suggests the PER is 30.8.

Forecast for FY26:

Macquarie forecasts a full year FY26 dividend of 0.00 cents and EPS of 15.40 cents . At the last closing share price the stock's estimated Price to Earnings Ratio (PER) is 28.57. How do these forecasts compare to market consensus projections?

Current consensus EPS estimate is 19.1, implying annual growth of 30.8%. Current consensus DPS estimate is 1.3, implying a prospective dividend yield of 0.3%. Current consensus EPS estimate suggests the PER is 23.6.

Market Sentiment: 0.7All consensus data are updated until yesterday. FNArena's consensus calculations require a minimum of three sources