who will win the war?

It seems WOW and WES have engaged in a supermarket price war. WES started the fight and look likely to keep it going. I suspect it won't get too intense as both companies don't want to destroy margin.... but the war will stay in headlines which is what Coles want. They hope to be seen as cheaper and draw more customers into their stores. Over past 24 months WES shares have done far better ($19-$33)than WOW (25.5-27). The media and analysts have focused on Coles turnaround plus WES has advantage of having just gained a 53% rise in coking-coal making their Curragh mine exceptionally profitable.

The other focus is on WOW's decision to enter hardware sector and attempt to gain business from WES's blue-eyed-boy... Bunnings. Undoubtedley WOW first 2 years in hardware will barely break-even.... but who will suffer most in a hardware war? My contention is that WES have the most to lose. Currently Mitre10 is main opponenet. WOW's entry will take competition to another level. I suspect that WOW will drain mkt-share from Bunnings and WES will feel the effects far more than WOW. Hence, with a PE considerably lower than WES i reckon WOW still remains good value. If coking-coal can stay above $300/ton then WES too will merit consideration.