LIVEDaily Stock Market Report (Thur 12th Nov 2026) - BA., VLX, DOCS, BME, PFD
Good morning! We are going to try a little experiment today: AI summaries in the third column of the table.
We are doing this for two reasons: 1) we think the summaries are quite good, and 2) it will allow the writing team to get started producing our own articles much faster.
Let’s see how it goes!
In market news, Nvidia shares fell by nearly 9% in yesterday's after-hours trading, to $159, after it emerged that the Nvidia board is considering replacing CEO Jensen Huang. They have recovered a few dollars in spread betting markets this morning. Looks like it could be another big day for the company today.
Overnight market movements:
The FTSE is up 0.8% at 10,890
S&P 500 is down 0.5% at 7,582
Brent crude (January) is up 0.3% at $92.90/bbl
Gold is down 0.6% at $3,965/oz
Bitcoin is down 1.1% at $73,500
Roland Head joins me today.
Leaving it there for today, thank you!
Companies Reporting
Name (Mkt Cap) | RNS | AI Summary* | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
BHP (LON:BHP) (£156.5bn | SR88) | Adrian Wood appointed CFO effective 17 Feb, 2027. He is currently Vice President Projects, Minerals Australia at BHP. | ||
Rolls-Royce Holdings (LON:RR.) (£110.9bn | SR60) | A £1.5bn interim share buyback, to be completed by full-year results on 25 Feb 2027, brings forward cash returns within the existing £7bn–£9bn programme for 2026–28. Full-year guidance is unchanged: underlying operating profit of £4.7bn–£4.9bn and free cash flow of £3.8bn–£4.0bn. Large-engine flying hours are expected towards the lower end of 115%–120% of 2019 levels. | ||
BAE Systems (LON:BA.) (£57.5bn | SR71) | Free cash flow guidance is raised to about £3bn from above £2bn. Sales, EBIT and EPS guidance is unchanged, and it has secured £33bn of orders so far this year. The £3bn includes some benefit from customer advances. | AMBER/GREEN = (Roland) | |
3i (LON:III) (£26.2bn | SR72) | Total return slowed to £1,618m, or 5% on opening funds, from 13% a year earlier, after a £474m currency translation loss. Action's sales and EBITDA both rose double digits, and net asset value per share climbed to 3,154p. A second buyback of up to £750m was announced after the first nears its £742m outlay. Action's full-year like-for-like sales growth is expected at "around 4%". | ||
United Utilities (LON:UU.) (£11.4bn | SR71) | Underlying operating profit rose 7% to £579m in the half year to September 2026, but underlying earnings per share fell 1.6% after higher inflation-linked interest costs. Capital spending nearly doubled to £993m, and the board now expects more than £2bn this year. The interim dividend rises 3.5% to 18.51p. | ||
Endeavour Mining (LON:EDV) (£9.8bn | SR64) | Gold output fell 10% in the first nine months, but a higher gold price lifted adjusted EBITDA 38% to $2,250m. Free cash flow hit a record $1,023m, with net cash of $263m. Full-year production is “on track” for the lower half of guidance, as Mana's mining stoppages are offset by Lafigué. The Assafou mine is approved, with first gold expected in H1-2029. | ||
Burberry (LON:BRBY) (£4.0bn | SR46) | Revenue +6% at CER. Comparable retail sales +4%. Adjusted operating profit £62m (H1 last year: £19m). Company is "very pleased" with the progress of their strategic plan, Burberry Forward. "In FY27 we expect to make further progress on our financial ambitions, including delivering revenue | ||
Persimmon (LON:PSN) (£4.0bn | SR96) | Trading is in line with expectations, but 2027 profit growth looks limited. Private forward sales rose 3% to £2.15bn, and the sales rate was 0.79 per outlet per week. Cost inflation of about £30–40m plus higher financing costs are "expected to limit near-term profit progression", with mitigation expected "by 2028". | ||
Softcat (LON:SCT) (£3.6bn | SR79) | Strong double-digit growth in gross profit and underlying operating profit in the first quarter to 31 October 2026, with the full-year outlook unchanged. The board says growth was broad-based across technology areas and customer segments, but it is "early in the financial year". The acquisition of GDT is progressing towards completion. | ||
B&M European Value Retail (LON:BME) (£2.8bn | SR84) | UK like-for-like sales returned to growth, up 3.2% in the second quarter, and first-half pre-tax profit rose to £121m. The board now guides to FY27 adjusted pre-tax profit of £280m–£330m, against £284m last year. Net debt to adjusted EBITDA fell to 1.3x, and early Golden Quarter trading is “positive”. | AMBER/GREEN ↑ (Roland) | |
Serco (LON:SRP) (£2.7bn | SR89) | Agreed to acquire QinetiQ Group plc’s US business for $292m (a purchase price of $237m for the operating business and a $55m acquired tax benefit). QQUS is a specialised provider of engineering, technology and mission support to the US defence and national security markets, expected to generate revenue of $370m and underlying operating profit of $21m in 2027. | ||
Qinetiq (LON:QQ.) (£2.7bn | SR73) | The US business is being sold to Serco for $292m, with £200m of proceeds due back to shareholders through extra FY28 and FY29 buybacks. The sale leaves a non-cash impairment of about £175m, against a £393m carrying value. Completion, expected in the first quarter of 2027, needs US antitrust and foreign-investment clearances. | ||
Keller (LON:KLR) (£2.1bn | SR95) | Record 2026 is on track, in line with upgraded market expectations. The order book is about £2.5bn, and the I-40 project gives revenue visibility over the next three to four years. Weak US residential and UK trading were more than offset elsewhere. Year-end net debt/cash is expected to be broadly neutral. | ||
Premier Foods (LON:PFD) (£1.8bn | SR85) | Branded revenue rose 3.2% in the first half, and a cheaper refinancing lets the company upgrade full-year profit expectations. Statutory profit after tax fell 12% to £41.0m on restructuring costs and a lower pensions credit, but adjusted pre-tax profit rose 3.8% to £64.7m. An interim dividend returns for the first time in 19 years. | AMBER/GREEN= (Graham) | |
Shawbrook (LON:SHAW) (£1.5bn | SR69) | Guidance is unchanged after a quarter of steady growth, with the CET1 ratio, a measure of capital strength, up to 13.4%. The loan book rose 8% annualised to £20.3bn, or 10% excluding a c.£0.3bn disposal. Arrears rose to 1.8%, which it puts down to a lower denominator, and it remains on track for c.£21bn by year end. | ||
Chemring (LON:CHG) (£1.4bn | SR41) | Full-year profit will land slightly below forecasts, but the order book hit a record. Underlying operating profit is expected to be about £79m, versus a consensus of £80.3m, with net debt about £145m. The £1.4bn order book includes new UK MOD frameworks worth up to £220m. It is selling its US Sensors business and maintains “material earnings growth” for FY27. | ||
Kier (LON:KIE) (£1.4bn | SR91) | Trading is in line with expectations, helped by a run of new contract wins. These include a £600m Devonport dockyard programme and about £100m of water work. The order book dipped slightly to £11.7bn at Sep 2026 from £11.9bn in June, though recent wins should lift it by December. | ||
Atalaya Mining Copper SA (LON:ATYM) (£1.3bn | SR84) | Record quarterly EBITDA of €90.1m, up from €30.7m, lifted net cash to €342m, and the company stays on track for 2026 guidance. Higher diesel, explosives and electricity prices pushed nine-month all-in sustaining cost to US$3.11/lb. Copper output is still expected at the low end of 50,000–54,000 tonnes. | ||
Metro Bank Holdings (LON:MTRO) (£1.2bn | SR83) | Strategic Review of options. The Board remains confident in standalone prospects and ability to deliver guidance, but "evaluating potential interest in the Company through an FSP (formal sale process), alongside continuing to execute the standalone plan, will maximise the value creation opportunities available to shareholders". | ||
Wizz Air Holdings (LON:WIZZ) (£1.2bn | SR79) | Profit fell in the first half as Middle East disruption and fuel costs hit Q1, but the second quarter recovered and October trading is stronger. Net profit fell 67% to €108.1m, though Q2 net profit rose 7.4%. October unit revenue was up about 5%, while fuel costs remain the main headwind. | ||
Volex (LON:VLX) (£1.0bn | SR83) | Record first-half revenue rose 23.9% to $723.6m and underlying operating profit jumped 40.9% to $80.6m, with the second half "started well". Net debt before operating leases rose to $203.7m after the Kepler SignalTek acquisition and a $22.7m buyback. Full-year expectations, upgraded in October, are unchanged. | AMBER/GREEN = (Roland) | |
Galliford Try Holdings (LON:GFRD) (£715m | SR94) | Trading has started the new financial year slightly ahead of Board expectations. It also reports "encouraging contract wins". The £15.0m buyback launched in September had repurchased 576,808 shares for £3.98m by 10 Nov 2026. The Board remains confident of meeting its objectives for the current financial year. | ||
Young & Co's Brewery (LON:YNGA) (£682m | SR96) | Record first-half profit came on a hot summer and the World Cup, with adjusted pre-tax profit up 19.3% to £37.1m. Revenue rose 10.4% to £291.1m, and the interim dividend is held at 12.22p. The board expects the full year to be “in line with the recently upgraded market expectations”. | ||
WH Smith (LON:SMWH) (£650m | SR39) | Revenue up 5% to £1,625m. Like-for-like growth 2%. Headline adjusted PBT £76m, in line with guidance. Non-underlying items of £164m. Currently expects Headline adjusted PBT for FY27 to be in line with current market expectations of £75m to £85m. | ||
Dr. Martens (LON:DOCS) (£614m | SR90) | Revenue fell 9% at constant currency in the first half as an exceptionally hot summer hit boots, and the company calls the result “disappointing”. Adjusted pre-tax loss widened to £13.7m from £9.4m. Trading in the coming weeks is “crucial”, with a “wide range of outcomes” for the full year. | AMBER ↓ (Graham) | |
Alfa Financial Software Holdings (LON:ALFA) (£481m | SR46) | Profit is now expected slightly ahead of expectations on cost control, while revenue should be close to them. Third-quarter revenue rose 3% to £32.7m, with subscription revenue up 18% to £13.1m. Total contract value rose to £250.8m from £247.0m at 30 June. | ||
Caledonia Mining (LON:CMCL) (£291m | SR68) | Revenue rose 10.5% to $78.9m in the third quarter on a higher gold price, but profit after tax fell 39% to $11.3m after a $12.9m non-cash derivative loss. Production slipped to 17,030oz on compressed-air shortages that are now resolved. Full-year production guidance was revised to 69,000–72,500oz. | ||
Robert Walters (LON:RWA) (£98m | SR90) | New CFO appointed after a thorough search and selection process. He joined RWA in 2024 as chief financial officer for recruitment outsourcing. | ||
Arrow Exploration (LON:AXL) (£91m | SR90) | Production has hit a record of over 7,000 barrels of oil equivalent a day, helped by a new Icaco well. The IC-HZ9 well is flowing at a restricted 2,400 BOPD gross (1,200 net) and is still cleaning up, with its ultimate rate yet to be set. Cash was over US$35m on 1 Nov 2026. Another horizontal well, IC-HZ10, began drilling on 8 Nov 2026. | ||
Videndum (LON:VID) (£88m | SR37) | Full-year guidance is cut after weaker trading from July to October, with revenue and adjusted EBITDA now expected to be broadly similar to FY25. Customers delayed purchases and some projects slipped into FY27. A new self-help programme targets about £10m of annualised savings by 2028, at a cost of about £3m. | PROFIT WARNING | |
TheWorks (LON:WRKS) (£69m | SR94) | Profit guidance is up again after like-for-like sales rose 9.8% in the 26 weeks to 1 November 2026, against a UK non-food market down 1.0%. The board now expects FY27 adjusted EBITDA (pre-IFRS 16) of at least £17.0m, ahead of market expectations and the £16.0m guided before. Net cash was £3.5m. | ||
tinyBuild (LON:TBLD) (£52m | SR50) | Full-year guidance is up after a run of record game launches. It now expects FY26 revenue of $54–56m and adjusted EBITDA of $7–8m, ahead of market expectations. Probably Stolen sold over one million copies within weeks of its 28 October launch. The board cautions that risk remains around new launches in a crowded market. |
*AI summaries have been edited by the writing team.
Analyst notes
Profit guidance is unchanged today while upgraded free cash flow guidance appears to reflect customer advance payments rather than any change to trading conditions. However, BAE appears to be trading well and benefiting from structural demand growth in both the UK and US markets. The valuation has eased since our last view in May and I'm happy to stay broadly positive.
Today's half-year results show a 41% surge in H1 profit, but also flags up that the exceptional Data Centre demand seen over the last 12 months is now normalising. Sales and profits are expected to fall modestly in H2, but I'm encouraged by continuing growth in areas such as EV charging and believe the valuation looks reasonable after the stock's recent de-rating.
Although today's announcement doesn't explicitly guide expectations lower, it's clear that meeting consensus expectations will be extremely difficult. I've been taking a more positive view on Dr. Martens this year, as I thought that its earnings forecasts may have stabilised and the modest earnings multiple might offer a reasonable entry point. However, today's results and outlook statement have rocked my confidence in the stability of those earnings forecasts. The downtrend in EPS forecasts appears likely to resume.
- B&M European Value Retail (LON:BME)
B&M European Value Retail reports 24% earnings jump as turnaround takes hold, we see further upside
I've been cautiously optimistic about a turnaround at this value retailer for some time, so I'm pleased to see that today's results show a clear improvement in both sales and profit margins. B&M shares aren't as cheap as they were, but today's guidance appears to underpin current market forecasts and debt levels are falling. I think it's fair to move to a broadly-positive view.
- Premier Foods (LON:PFD)
Premier Foods continues to offer an appetising investment with outlook at "top end" of expectations
We were moderately positive on Premier Foods at the beginning of this year - see Roland's comments in January. At an earnings multiple of about 12x, I think it continues to offer reasonable prospects, and so I am happy to maintain our existing stance. In the short term, the reduction in net debt gives the company much greater flexibility in addition to reducing the drag of interest costs and helping to justify a double-digit earnings multiple. And in the long term, I expect that its diversified portfolio of food brands will continue to enjoy reasonable pricing power, as they have in the past.
Disclaimer
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50 comments
NVIDIA (NSQ:NVDA) CEO resigned, price dropping in pre-market, but its the same company. Tempted to bottom fish this one for a quick bounce.
We are now on our final release of tickets for Mello London next week. Here is how the schedule is shaping up for both days. Dialight (LON:DIA) Built Cybernetics (LON:BUC) dotDigital (LON:DOTD) Phoenix Copper (LON:PXC) & Boohoo (LON:DEBS) have all been recent additions.
Hope to see you next week in Chiswick for what should be a cracking two days: https://www.melloevents.com/mellolondon2026
Use Stocko25 for 25% off your ticket.
David
I know I'm late but a review of Qinetiq (LON:QQ.) Would be welcome in view of their realignment
Volex (LON:VLX) I am a long term holder
Thank you for your write up Graham
I am a big fan of the business and have been very impressed with what Nat R and his team have achieved there. It seems to me that they always play a straight bat in communicating what is going on in the business which I find particularly refreshing
However, I am not too surprised by today's market reaction, and I have my own concerns :
I think that one positive from today's report is that the business may well be being pretty conservative with their forecasts for the full year . They would be highly unlikely to have lifted guidance again having done so only a month or so ago. So maybe H2 could be building up for a beat ? Alternatively that might well be my subconscious bias breaking out !
Volex (LON:VLX)
cheers Lochinver your viewpoint isnt too far away from mine
ref the slowdown in sales - all be can really hope is that the broker forecasts for next year - confirm that despite the "headwinds" hopefully they have enough positive stuff to still expect that they can do double digit growth next year ref earnings. We are rally 100% reliant on those forecasts not being loweredm if we want to take the viewpoint company is worth more than whats its value at now.
You would like to think they would be cautious bearing in mind they have been only recently upping expectations for next year - so hopefully there is no bad news to come ? would seem crazy to not act with caution ref upgrading following year - i dont know if brokers sometimes go off on a tangent tho.
ref this bit
Hopefully at some point the working capital build up unwinds and the business can also use its cash flow from future profits to pay it down.
all i would say is that future acquisitions aside we better bloody hope that happens - i kinda get it that it looks bad with the growth they have had h1 -hopefully lower growth changes negative working capital adjusts into positive or neutral at worst.
Ref acquisitions well there will be deferred payments that will take up future cashflow - but i think te latest one is 2 modest tranches
Once they are on stable level you really want to be getting as close as posible to 100% cash conversion - and there is scope for debt to start flying down in a couple of years - or for them to be able to afford acquisitions without debt going up materially as its done till now.
ref buybacks i am generally a fan - but perhaps not at like peak 700p levels - at current levels its a ok by me - if one isnt confident in futiure earnings well you might as well sell up anyway - it is extra risk though that you are nailing your colours to the mast that thne future "must be better" if you are buying back shares now.
Perhaps its not my strongest hold but in the absence of any bad news they are still trending towards their stated aims ref sales margin and roce all of which should do us nicely if acheived. thought i had missed on this one but the recent pullback has allowed me to join the party.
Volex (LON:VLX) is my largest holding so take the below with a pinch of salt:
Fantastic stuff Nurzel, many thanks indeed for that
I better see what pennies I can find under the sofa cushions and put them to better use by adding to my Volex (LON:VLX) holding !
Thank you Roland, we held and sold for a modest profit far too soon. Value at 27 in Stock Ranks is making me hesitant to join in again.
Morning all. Some of you may recall my panic over a week ago about a possible fraudulent attempt to steal my money (dramatic) following an ISA transfer from Freetrade to IG group. It involved what I thought was someone opening a fraudulent account in my name at Interactive Brokers and attempting to hijack the transfer.
Finally, after 9 days of toing and froing with IG, and having my account suspended for that time, we got to the bottom of it.
Subparstockpicks was correct. Interactive are the 'custodians' for IG; which explains everything. All innocent and above board, but no-one at IG helpline knew that or could explain the mystery request from Interactive until yesterday. But anyway, money is safe.
Phew.
Investegate RNS’s have an AI Summay at the top of the RNS, eg:
https://www.investegate.co.uk/announcement/rns/bae-systems--ba./trading-statement/9871216
not sure why the link hasn’t worked
Because links are no longer auto-formatting. As well as pasting in your text, you need to paste in the "link" box above the text and click apply. All rather tiresome TBH...
I never cease to be amazed how comprehensively and accurate the answers I manage to obtain from AI, both Chat and Gemini, to correctly phrased questions have been, ranging from covenants in my will, to building contractors instructions for an Ultraframe roof I am having installed at present. I shall always be reluctant to seek investment advice from it, but this mornings summary was easily understood and drawn from known facts and figures and perfectly acceptable for me. The only slight misunderstanding I might have had were it not for an additional comment by Roland regarding BAE systems was that from the AI summary I believed that the £3bn cash flow was drawn from extra customers rather than existing customer advance payments.
well done Saltash Bob - its crazy that many diss AI - all i would say is that you sometimes need to be careful how you ask questions and you may need to probe AI many times before you get what you need - i think many that diss AI are using the cheapest of the cheap AI and expecting perfect reponse perhaps whilst not being specific ref requests - i would personsally say its always liable to be inherintely unreliable at present - as long as you know that and worth with it thne results can be uber impressive - to get the very best out of AI - well you really have to work at using all the tools available.
I see that Keller (LON:KLR) are being punished for a good but in-line trading statement. Tht seems to be the way of things at the moment.
Galliford Try is quietly making a habit of this. This is its eighth guidance upgrade since January 2025. The shares have almost doubled in that time.
It's also a reminder for everyone to separate construction from housing. Yesterday we had a lot of chat regarding housebuilding woes - so here's a quick comparison of a few stats:
By my numbers since mid-August:
Obviously we have a government that likes to spend money, and some are beneficiaries more than others. Contractors can end up more like recurring revenue businesses - which justifies higher valuations.
Yes and what a crazy market - Galliford up by a smidgeon of a percentage and B&M European Value Retail (LON:BME) up nearly 18% today - Oh and Young & Co's Brewery (LON:YNGA) with excellent results down 3.5% - obviously not good enough!
investor sentiment seems to be the key driver behind how a positive update impacts share price. Interesting when viewed through the efficient market lens.
To be fair to B&M European Value Retail (LON:BME) , a share price of 325 is fair value based on historic PE average and assuming you believe they hit upper end of today’s guidance.
I’d rather have a larger margin of safety than rely on such an optimistic happy path to add to my current holding.
The price jump says to me that this was being heavily watched for signs of a recovery.
Hi Paul - Agree - I read that as - great time to cash in and move on
Something feels queer here - because a few years ago this was a miserable business with very tight margins - that was the inherent problem - if something went wrong with a project the losses would be huge in relation to the margins.
Despite Q3 GDP growth of 0.7%, Construction sector activity fell by 0.7% (now 1.7% lower than a year ago) and new private housing activity down 4.7%
I think after the Carillon collapse in 2018 the government changed how contracts are bid for and awarded. Might be the reason these businesses have improved in regard to quality and risk.
Affordable housing or Government infrastructure projects long kicked down the road, I expect like me, watching the dreadful televised news of fresh acres of housing bombed to destruction daily I am increasingly confident that there will be a steady growth in Steppe cement in the not too distant future.
Nice to see Cavendish (LON:CAV) director buys following yesterdays update. I don't think I've seen meaningful director buying since the formation of the business.
TheWorks (LON:WRKS) heartening to see this non-screen play provider doing so well. I hold.
On the AI subject but off today's Agenda, did anyone else notice yesterday RWS TU? We hold, they launched Weava. Announced at Web Summit 2026, Weava helps business to transform content for every language, culture and context with greater speed scale and control. Frighteningly comprehensive was my first reaction.
Yes, I did, and if it really can do all those things, it sounds pretty amazing. As an ex-linguist involved in niche international marketing, I think we have to follow this development. We (family) also hold a fair bit, bought near the bottom, and this is close to my original target price. I nearly always sell too soon, so I am using one hand to pull the other away from the Sell button. The product package RWS has developed over the past couple of years just could be a great British technology success story.
Oh, and I'm glad I'm not a translator...
Volex (LON:VLX)
I am a new holder here - results are ok - per Gaia broadly similar h2 is less than what we might have hoped for - a lot of moving parts here - clearly there is an element of splashing the cash to up profits (yiannos and abtan would not like the cash profile here) - clearly they are at the heart of the au boom and benefitting from supply and demand mismatch.
Overall though I am impressed with how they have delivered the last 5 years - they seem not be be afraid to do old school hard work of investing in what customer wants - if their source irgznic growth is Faye and reasonably calculated that’s impressive.
Overall they seem to have clear focus on simple targets - that’s business in a nutshell - deliver higher sales - deliver 12% underlying net profit - deliver 20% roce - and shareholders will be well rewarded.
Their current sweet spot tailwinds perhaps make their Job easy at present - thereal test is when customers cut back on spending - and you have more cheaper competition.
I don’t know how this will pan out but for now I am a happy new holder - a stock to watch uber carefully though as they kinda need to deliver their promised 2 billion 12% margin 20% roce numbers before I can expect material uplift in shareprice
Morning Graham, interesting use of AI. Is it just being used to summarise the daily news or asked for its thoughts too? Any difference between different models and paid vs unpaid? I've been impressed with Claude AI writing code for a project that I was stuck with and just left it to do it's own thing. I'm not an experienced coder.
I pay for chatgpt and am pretty impressed! I use for share comparison and it dives deep!
Not a bad effort from AI, although I was amused to see that Burberry (LON:BRBY) had it stumped by requiring readers to open a pdf file to see the interim results! Maybe there might still be some jobs left for humans after all!
Lol! I had to do that one, sparkler. There are a few of them I've still had to write this morning. G
Please do keep experimenting with AI for summaries Graham. If it releases your time and gets summaries out quickly then I think it's worth pursuing. In reality you'll likely have to mark the homework! However InvestorMeet uses AI for their daily round up, which is comprehensive and released by half seven each morning.
As an add-on, is there any reason why companies can't be ordered alphabetically (ticker or company name)?
Thanks for all you and the team do.
You're welcome, TEIN. There was a lot of work behind the scenes to get these AI summaries ready for public consumption, which I was not involved with at all! That's a good idea to get things ordered alphabetically - the format of the table is certainly under review. All the best.
Yes - we've spotted those, and the team are going to follow the PDF links to summarise the actual news - it's probably a few weeks away.
Dr. Martens (LON:DOCS) Profit warning.
I’ve been in 3 shopping centres in Australia (Sydney & Melbourne) over the last year and made a point of checking out the Doc Martin stores. I have not seen a single customer in any of them, whilst the neighbouring sports shoe stores are busy. (Admittedly a non-scientific survey and not Europe).
Given they are prime locations it must be costing a fortune to keep them open. I can’t see a turnaround until the brand becomes fashionable again.
They're so expensive as well! I wanted some recently and couldn't believe how much for a pair (£170+). Have spoken to other middle-aged parents and they were also put off by the price.
DOCS boots used to have broad appeal (5 yrs ago). Its private equity backers cleverly floated at peak popularity. They are no longer fashionable outside a loyal hardcore. Perhaps they might become fashionable again in 20 years.
I have had my pair for over 30 years and they are still going strong, apart from being re-soled they are great. Maybe this is the problem.....they are too well made.
I think Docs use to be a very well made workman's boot. They cost more than a standard boot, but lasted a lot lot longer and were of a much higher quality.
Then in the early 2000s Docs moved manufacturing to Asia and the customer profile has changed dramatically. They are now no longer a high quality boot. By most accounts they fall apart within a couple of years of standard wear.
So the buyer profile has also changed. Now they are just a cheaply made fashion item - one that is fairly niche in style and doesn't appeal to the masses.
Fashion wise, they use to have a cult following with the anti authority types, like the mods and rockers types etc. These days they still have a certain amount of that appeal, they are for instance popular with goth type fashion. But overall it is just a cheap fashion product.
The days of them producing a quality workmen boot are gone and I am not surprised to see it has hurt the company considerably. I actually think they should revert back to British made, charge more money, and focus on delivering the best quality boot they can. I don't think the space they are in will ever be easy, too much competition. Reverting back to quality and maximising their brand name and history imo is the only way this will return to being a great company again.
Dr. Martens (LON:DOCS)
sensible comments Metalmaid
everyone seems to be knocking what the company does - but for a "one trick pony company" they are expecting £800 mill of sales and £60 net profit next year - is that not overall actually a pretty decent company.
i would kinda get that there are two things
1 the size of their TAM - if they kinda have the same target audience they always had should we expect any growth
2 whether you are in fashion or out fashion - time passing will likely change whether you are in or out.
Ok they were obviously doing uber well just the remnants of covid time - i think they are not the only uk fashion brand thats isnt perhaps quite as desired as it temporarily was.
Obviously some brands wil branch out and continue to grow to infinity and beyond - thats not a given though.
In summary is that not just fashion - in the good peak times everyone wants your brand and will pay top dollar - however when they move onto next fad p what do you do if sales ebb downward do you try and cut prices to genrfate sales - its a tricky balance.
clealy this isnt a bad company - but not sure why investors would presume they could easily double their TAM ?
shareprice kinda looks about right to me - how confident are ibvestors though that the currentlyu penciled ion numbers for 2028 arent justa work of fiction - would holders have 80% plus confidence that it ont be easy peasy up profits 20% plus in 2028 on top of 2027 - they seem glass rammed full expectations. I gues when your job is fashion sales - if you aint gonna be uber confident what you are gonna sell next year is great - well yuuou probbaly wouldnt be ain a job - and perhaps thats the worry ?
Yep you make some good points. I agree with the fads involved in the fashion sector, and brands will come in and out of fashion. I just think this is too competitive a sector for them to grow meaningfully and hold that growth when imo their product has a fairly niche appeal - they have joined the flavour of the month fashion sector that is highly unpredictable.
I think if they concentrated back on the quality and the workers market, stuck with higher quality British made products and centre their marketing around that, then there is a huge workers market to go after (globally) and have a decent share of. This market would also be far more stable imo. I know they do market for this to some extent, but the product seems to have moved too far into a fashion product and the quality has sunk. So I personally feel they are not maximising the brands potential, just my opinion.
What is surprising is how today's downbeat tone compares to its upbeat note few months ago. Stocko has been fooled by it giving it a super stock rank. Hopeless. I am going to sell my holding which i bought since Ed's talk about jump in ranks.
Don’t think accurate to say the ranks were fooled as they can only go off the information available.
Dr. Martens (LON:DOCS) were over-taken by solovair boots a long time ago
they also outsourced their factories/production to china and south-east asia ~20 years ago. so you are paying more and more, for worse and worse quality
simply put, they are still living on a rep from the 80s and 90s that doesn't exist anymore
as a final note: they are one of the worst IPO's i have ever seen tbh, and that's not an exaggeration
Would welcome any thoughts on Nvidia - can’t believe it’s down to the -158 range
Short term volatility and I think it will drop further. However fundamentals haven’t changed and I’ve opened a position and may add more.
Only the fundamental that its highly influential founder has been engaging in extremely reckless behaviour. This probably says nothing about the massive nest of circular financing which he has constructed.
what’s crazy is the thought that a share that went up fivefold in 5 years wouldn’t have a person of consolidation and pullback up some stage - despite the current woes if you take 12 month picture shares are down 10% - pe of 20 ish is very reasonable for such a heavyweight company - unlike many ai and dotcom companies they are a money making machine ? Is there some element of a bubble ref their huge demand and huge under supply - normally sellers of physical items have good and bad periods- they clearly have the ip and technological lead at what they do - china will turn up to the party in some way soon tho
NVIDIA (NSQ:NVDA) Jensen Huang has resigned and interim CEO is Colette Kress