Jefferies warns about Australia's consumer companies on potential market pivot

SUPER RETAIL

06/03/2024 22:16

** Analysts at Jefferies said they were less cautious on
Australia's consumer discretionary retail, elevated valuations
    ** Brokerage adds market is looking to potential monetary
pivot
    ** Jefferies sees Super Retail Group  SUL.AX  to incur
substantial wage cost increase in FY25 due to proposed 2024
enterprise agreement 
    ** Expects costs for Coles Group  COL.AX  to increase due to
Witron & Ocado project's implementation, ramp up which would
partly be offset by stock loss tailwind
    ** Sees risk of aggressive pricing on increased scrutiny of
pricing and competition
    ** Adds all consumer stocks covered met or beat consensus
NPAT expectations, except Flight Centre Travel Group  FLT.AX 
and Woolworths  WOW.AX               
    ** Inflation tailwind moderating for food retailers while
discretionary retailers' sales proving to be more resilient -
Jefferies

 (Reporting by Roshan Thomas in Bengaluru)
 ((Roshan.Thomas@thomsonreuters.com))