Azzet reports on three stocks with price moving updates today.
Virgin trades flat on 1H FY26 update ~
Despite what appeared to be a reasonable 1H FY26 result, the market’s response to Virgin’s (ASX: VGN) first result as a [reincarnated] publicly listed company was somewhat muted, with cost warnings possibly playing on market sentiment today.
While the stock opened at $3.20 and rose as high as $3.23, it was 0.32% lower in late morning trading at $3.14 with the market clearly struggling to make sense of today’s result.
First, the headline result: Virgin reported an underlying net profit after tax (NPAT) of $278.7 million, a 20.7% increase that beat analyst estimates of approximately $261 million.
Reflecting good operational strength, underlying earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) rose 11.7% to $490 million, while revenue rose 9.3% to $3.32 billion.
The market was arguably impressed by $200 million in gross benefits - realised through the company’s transformation program - which helped expand EBIT margins to 14.8% despite rising industry costs.
However, statutory profit actually fell 27.9% to $341 million due to the airline having fully utilised its past tax losses from administration and is back in a tax-paying position.
Not knowing what to make of the statutory profit fall, investors took their cue today from the underlying sentiment within commentary by newly appointed CEO Dave Emerson, which made for relatively sober reading.
Emerson told the market that while the group’s continued strong performance demonstrates strong financial outcomes, cost pressures persist across the industry, with costs growing above inflation in several areas of the aviation supply chain, including airport charges and aircraft maintenance.
“The broader aviation industry must remain vigilant on costs so aviation doesn’t become unaffordable for Australians,” said Emerson.
However, despite these cost pressures, Chief Financial Officer, Race Strauss, told the market to expect continued growth in both revenue and underlying EBIT for FY26, underpinned by strong travel demand, the impact of its Transformation Program, and sustained growth in Velocity.
He expects demand for air travel to stay strong, with plans to increase domestic capacity by 2–3% in the second half of FY26 and 3% in early FY27.
Ongoing discipline in capacity and cost management is expected to keep the balance sheet strong, and the airline has shifted toward buying rather than leasing nine upcoming Boeing aircraft to better manage long-term costs.
Investments include further aircraft purchases, with capex of $850–950 million anticipated for FY26, and much of the fleet will be upgraded with Wi-Fi.
While Jarden described the airline's fundamentals as "strong for the near term”, Ord Minnett maintained a Buy rating with a $4.00 price target - citing an impressive near-term outlook – and UBS recently initiated coverage with a Buy rating and a $3.90 target.
Since relisting at an initial public offering (IPO) price of $2.90 per share on 24 June 2025, Virgin’s share price peaked at $3.72 early October and has been bouncing lower ever since.
Virgin Australia Holdings has a market cap of $2.4 billion; the share price is up 8% in one year and down 4.5% in the last week.
Consensus is Moderate Buy.
Coles tumbles on disappointing trading update
Shares in Coles (ASX: COL) were trading 8% lower at noon, with investors reacting negatively to significant one-off costs embedded within today’s 1H FY26 result, which saw net profit fall 11.3% to $511 million.
The significant items for the six months of $235 million, or $165 million after tax, relating to September’s Federal Court judgment on Fair Work proceedings involving historical underpayment of employees, appear to have marred an otherwise reasonable result.
However, the retailer will pay an interim dividend of 41 cents per share on March 30, higher than the payout of 37¢ a share from a year earlier.
What also fuelled the market concerns today were revelations that sales growth in the nation’s second-largest grocery chain has slipped behind rival Woolworths so far in 2026.
During the first seven weeks of the third quarter, Coles supermarkets' sales revenue rose by 3.7% from a year earlier.
This was a relatively weak result compared with Woolworths, which grew sales at 5.8% in the same period.
Historical staff underpayments aside, EBIT was up more than 10% to $1.23 billion, in line with market expectations.
In the second quarter, Coles’ supermarket sales - which included Christmas - gained just 2.6%, which was lower than the 3.4% some analysts were expecting.
Commenting on today’s update, Coles CEO Leah Weckert told the market it had delivered another strong set of results in a highly competitive operating environment, successfully cycling the competitor industrial action disruption in November and December 2024.
“As we look ahead, we are well positioned, with a strong balance sheet and cash flow generation, to continue to invest in areas that will strengthen and expand our core customer proposition and deliver value for shareholders,” she said.
Key results announced for 1H FY26:
- 2.5% year-on-year increase in sales revenue to $23.6 billion.
- Supermarkets sales revenue of $21.37 billion was up 3.6%.
- Revenue from the company's liquor division slipped 3.2% to $1.94 billion.
- eCommerce sales up 27% year on year amid increasing digital engagement.
- Earnings, excluding significant items of $2.21 billion were up 7.8% from H1 FY25.
- Net profit after tax, excluding significant items of $676 million, up 12.5%.
Overall, analysts noted that strong supermarket momentum was offset by ongoing weakness in the liquor segment and one-off legal costs.
Despite the revenue miss, supermarkets EBIT margin rose by 55 basis points to 5.8%, meeting analyst expectations and reflecting benefits from automation investments.
Coles has a market cap of $27.3 billion; the share price has flatlined over one year and is down 7% in the last week.
The stock’s shares appear to be in a near-term uptrend, confirmed by its 20-day moving average.
Specifically, the 20-day moving average is rising and implies that investors see opportunity for profit.
Consensus is Moderate Buy.
Forrestania Resources jumps on broker upgrade
Shares in Forrestania Resources (ASX: FRS) were trading 7% higher this afternoon following an upgrade by Bell Potter to Speculative Buy.
What the broker appears to like about the mid cap resource stock is its recent strategic moves to transform from an explorer into a production-focused gold entity.
The WA explorer secured 100% ownership of the Mt Palmer Gold Project - located in WA’s Southern Cross region - in February 2026 after completing a takeover of Kula Gold and acquiring the remaining interests from Newcam Minerals.
The company successfully increased its JORC-compliant gold resource from around 24,000 ounces to over 593,000 ounces in just 14 weeks through a disciplined program of acquisitions and exploration.
The miner has also been active in consolidating its position in WA’s gold belts, including a friendly takeover bid for Kula Gold to unite complementary exploration portfolios.
Earlier this month, Forrestania confirmed its binding Ore Purchase Agreement with Karora (Higginsville) Pty Ltd - a wholly owned subsidiary of Westgold Resources Limited (ASX: WGX), for the sale of ore from its 100%-owned Gibraltar Gold Project.
Forrestania’s chairman, David Geraghty, told the market that this agreement marks Forrestania’s transition from gold developer to gold producer.
“During the second half of 2025 the Company moved decisively to consolidate ground across the belt in proximity to existing processing infrastructure. That strategy has positioned us to execute this agreement and establish Forrestania as a new gold producer in Western Australia,” said Geraghty.
This transaction, adds Geraghty, allows the miner to monetise on previous transactions while building the operational capability required for Lake Johnston.
To support its strategy of building a WA gold production business - including the acquisition of the Lake Johnston processing facility - Forrestania completed a major $37 million capital raising in January 2026.
The company has notified the ASX of further modest proposed share issues scheduled for March 2026 and November 2026.
Forrestania Resources has a market cap of $684 million; the share price is up 130% year to date and up 46% in the last month.
The stock appears to be in a strong bullish trend, confirmed by multiple indicators.
Specifically, a 5-day moving average of the stock price is above the 20 and 50-day moving averages.
Consensus does not cover this stock.
This article does not constitute financial or product advice. You should consider independent advice before making financial decisions.
